Military notifiers must tell the family when a loved one dies

[ckramer]

ST. PAUL - Army Lt. Col. Ken Leners brings the news every family fears most.

Leners is a "casualty notification officer" with the Army's 88th Regional Readiness Command based at Fort Snelling. When a soldier dies, whether in combat, an accident, or suicide, Leners is among the people assigned to tell the victim's relatives.

The job of a notifier is considered among the most difficult in the military, and Leners still has vivid memories of his first time. In 19 years in the Army, he has done five.

"It gets harder and harder and harder as it goes on," Leners said.

ap

[Skittles]

1. I did this job for three years

IT SUCKED

[MADem]

4. I did it too

...and you got that right, it sucked. Stays with you, even after many years, especially when it is a difficult notification, or there are issues or unfortunate factors surrounding the cause of death. It was a collateral responsibility in my case, and since I knew the CACO manual backwards and forwards, I kept getting stuck with it everywhere I went--it was like a little shadow, I couldn't get rid of it. It was only when I had sufficient seniority that I could finally put my foot down and insist that someone else be given the "opportunity to excel."

[sidpleasant]

7. My father did it for a few months late in the Viet Nam war

He was a 25 year veteran of the Marines and had just returned from a tour in VN. He was assigned to the local recruiting post while waiting for his retirement to go through. He hated the notification job. He said that soldiers' families often spotted the the dark blue Chevy sedan with "US Marine Corps" on the doors pulling into their driveways and they knew what it meant. Mothers would frequently be screaming and crying before he even rang the doorbell. I think of him doing that, and the devastated families who've lost a son or daughter, when I read of each new death in Iraq. Each fatality is not just a number, it's a catastrophe for a family somewhere. I hope George W. Bush burns in unimaginable agony in hell for all eternity for invading Iraq and causing tens - if not hundreds - of thousands of pointless and unnecessary deaths.

[whistle]

2. That is correct, has the U.S. Army been withholding such....

...notification from families so that they can make the casualty counts look more favorable?

[SouthernDem2004]

6. Not possible.

[BlackVelvetElvis]

3. No clergy for the Army?

I wonder why Lila Lipscomb only got a phone call when her son was killed?
Why don't they standardize this?

[MADem]

5. They failed to follow protocol.

She should have had the personal visit. It is standardized, there is a DOD instruction that spells it all out.

Optimal configuration is the Casualty officer and the chaplain, and, optionally, if circumstances permit it and it is deemed to be helpful to the family, a friend of the deceased from that person's unit. You try if you can to match the religion, but that isn't always possible...the chaplain you get is the one on duty, often as not.

[TacticalPeek]

8. Any day two guys in dress uniforms don't come to your door

is a good day.

[MADem]

9. Or gals....

They are increasingly assigning females, both as casualty officers and in the ever-increasing chaplain corps, to these duties.

[karlrschneider]

10. You know, I'm pretty much of a whore but that is one job I wouldn't do for

any amount of money. No goddam way. :cry:

[malmapus]

11. Didn't have to meet the family but did get the ball rolling

Was sent back to state from Haiti for an injury, but while my unit was there I was stuck at the Group HQ staff duty desk. But yeah would get the call in that we lost a guy and had to get things ready on our end before notifying the family.

But pretty much whats been said before, it sucked.