Air Force morgue lost body parts from war dead

UPDATE

Mortuary officials disciplined for mishandling troops' remains
The Air Force takes action against three at Dover Air Force Base, where body parts of troops killed in Afghanistan went missing. The Office of Special Counsel questions whether the punishment is tough enough.

An Army team carries the remains of a soldier upon arrival at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware last week. The mortuary there has handled most of the more than 6,000 U.S. service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan over the last decade. (Jose Luis Magana, Associated Press / November 3, 2011)

By David S. Cloud, Washington Bureau
November 9, 2011
Reporting from Washington— The Air Force said Tuesday that it had disciplined three top officials at the military's main mortuary in Delaware for "gross mismanagement" after finding that they twice lost track of body parts of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan, and cut off a deceased Marine's arm bone without his family's consent.

An 18-month Air Force investigation said the three officials failed to take action "despite indications that procedures were inadequate" for tracking human remains at the Dover Air Force Base mortuary, which has handled most of the more than 6,000 U.S. service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan over the last decade.

The mistakes at Dover are similar in some respects to two other scandals that have rocked the military in recent years.

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Air Force morgue lost body parts from war dead
By Robert Burns - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Nov 8, 2011 12:51:56 EST

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has asked for a separate investigation.

The Air Force determined that the mortuary’s top leadership failed over time to respond to clear signs of weakness in accounting for human remains — a task the Air Force says it considers one of its most solemn duties.

Two of the three officials who were punished are still work at Dover but not in supervisory jobs. None was fired.

WASHINGTON — The Air Force mortuary that receives America’s war dead and prepares them for burial lost portions of human remains twice in 2009, prompting the Air Force to discipline three senior officials for “gross mismanagement.”

A year-long Air Force investigation reviewed 14 sets of allegations of improper handling of war remains as reported by three whistleblower workers at Dover Air Force Base, Del. That is where all war dead are received from foreign battlefields to be identified, autopsied and prepared for transfer to their families.

The Air Force inspector general concluded that no laws or regulations had been violated, as alleged, but an independent agency that reviewed the probe said the Air Force failed to accept accountability for its mistakes.
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