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Reservists serve those who gave all to their country

  • Published
  • By Capt. Jennifer Gerhardt
  • 446th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
The national news reports another warrior has died. For a fleeting moment, sadness and anger mix with a feeling of disheartenment. Yet, in the next moment, most of us move forward with our lives without stopping to think of our fallen comrade’s final journey home.

Most of us, but not all of us. Not five reservists from the 446th Services Flight who returned earlier this year to McChord AFB after a solemn 120-day deployment to the Department of Defense Port Mortuary at Dover AFB, Del. It was a deployment that weighed heavily on the soul, but it was a weight they volunteered to bear.

"Our wartime mission is to deploy to Dover and prepare human remains to be returned to their families with the dignity, honor and respect they deserve,” said Maj. Bruce Simpson, who commands Air Force Reserve Command’s 446th SVF. “We have deployed to Dover in support of aircraft crashes, the embassy bombings in Kenya, the Space Shuttle Columbia crash and the 9/11 Pentagon attack.”

Out of respect for families' privacy, defense officials do not allow news media coverage of deceased military people returning to Dover. However, the dead do receive a private, “Dignified Transfer” where honor guard members help transfer the remains in flag-draped metal cases from the aircraft to the port mortuary.

Once the transfer is complete, the port mortuary team meticulously handles every part of a 15-stage mortuary process that includes thorough identification, autopsy and embalming as well as preparing full dress uniforms and caskets. From Dover, the remains are shipped, with personal escorts, to various funeral homes across the country.

“What we do is for the families,” said Master Sgt. Anita Barnes, 446th SVF. “We help get their loved ones home, and we take painstaking measures to make sure everything is perfect.”

The entire process can take 24 to 36 hours. The nature of the business can produce high levels of stress for those involved.

“You feel bad because your fellow military members have died; but at the same time you feel good about the mission you are doing at Dover. Then you sort of feel bad for feeling good,” said Major Simpson. “It can be an emotional rollercoaster at times.”

To help with those emotions, chaplains and other people trained in critical incident stress management are on hand to help. The chaplains and CISM staff give deployed teams an opportunity to talk about feelings and realize others have the same feelings about experiences on the deployment.

“You have to detach yourself from it,” said Sergeant Barnes. “But everyone is going through the same thing, so you have people to talk to. You become a close-knit family and get the support you need,”

Consistent rotating schedules help the port mortuary teams mentally prepare for their mission.

“In the past, when a mass casualty event happened, it was more of a last-minute deployment, and you didn’t have much time to mentally prepare,” said Major Simpson. “You just got on the plane as quickly as you could to get to Dover. Now we have port mortuary AEF (Air and Space Expeditionary Force) cycles to support the Global War on Terrorism, so we know when we’ll be going (to Dover) in advance and we can be mentally ready.”

Not only do mortuary affairs teams prepare mentally to deploy, they also must prepare their emotions for the trip home.

“My last deployment was hard because I have a 16-year-old son at home and I was working on 19-year-olds who were shot,” recalled Sergeant Barnes. “I thought to myself that this could be my kid someday. In order to deal with it, I went into mother-mode. I fussed over these boys and made sure everything was neat, tidy and perfect for their return to their families.”

Mortuary affairs is a tough job. However, the people who work mortuary affairs take their job seriously because they know a tiny detail may mean the world to those who have lost a loved one.

“No one ever forgets that we are working with someone’s son, daughter, mom, dad, or spouse,” said Major Simpson. “That’s why we work hard at getting everything perfect.”

The final perfect touch delivered by these caring reservists comes in the form of a salute.

“Rain or shine, we line up outside and render a final salute each time a hearse leaves the port mortuary. It’s our way of saying goodbye as we send them off to their next destination,” said Major Simpson. (AFRC News Service)