While accounting for the missing service member is the goal of the more than 600 men and women in the "accounting" community, it is the families of the missing who have endured unspeakable pain and uncertainty, often for decades and decades.

In the early years following World War II and the Korean War, the end of those conflicts signaled a virtual closing of the door on further information about the tragic loss of the missing Americans. The technology of the times offered little hope that the missing could be found. During the Vietnam War, as families of the missing began pressing their government for answers, national leadership began to respond. Each of the individual military services provided support and information to their respective family members, but it was not until the early 1990s that the Department of Defense consolidated the effort to support the needs of the families left behind, and to provide them with every scrap of information that the government had collected on those who were still missing.

Today, each of the military services maintains direct contact with the MIA families through their casualty or mortuary divisions. For some families from the Vietnam War, the contact with their service casualty officer has existed for decades. For others from the Korean War and World War II, it often falls to the casualty offices to seek out family members who have been "lost" for more than 60 years. Each of the military services utilizes contract genealogists, especially when it becomes critical for the family to assist – through DNA reference samples – in identifying remains that have been recovered.

In an effort to broaden contact with all the MIA family members, DPMO instituted its Family Update program in 1995. Each month, specialists from throughout the DoD accounting community travel to a city or town which has a sizeable population of MIA family members. The attendees are drawn from lists maintained by the military service casualty offices, and often number 150-200. In an all-day Saturday event, the family members learn about the worldwide policies of accounting for the missing. They are briefed on negotiations with our former enemies; on archival research in the dusty regions of forgotten holdings; on the investigation and excavation teams searching for the remains of their loved one; and on the advanced scientific techniques employed to identify recovered remains. Finally, the families are briefed on the importance of submitting a "family reference sample" of DNA which could be matched to remains already recovered and awaiting identification in JPAC's laboratory. Throughout the day, technicians from the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory are on hand to take mouth swabs from donor families. The donors are briefed that their sample may well be the last piece of evidence needed to confirm the identification of a loved one's remains.

BACKGROUND

The Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) conducts monthly updates and annual government briefings for families of American servicemembers who are missing in action. These events are designed to keep family members informed of the U.S. government's worldwide mission to account for those still missing and to discuss in detail the latest information available about their specific cases.

Eight times a year, government specialists meet in major metropolitan areas across the country with MIA family members who live within a 350-mile radius of the city. These meetings are designed to address the individual needs of the family members while bringing information to their communities. Government officials also meet one-on-one with family members to discuss the details of each of their cases. About 150-200 family members and 30 government officials attend each meeting.

In addition to the updates in other cities, two briefings are held annually in the Washington D.C. area. One is for Vietnam War families and the other is for Korean and Cold War families. The location of these events makes it possible for senior government officials to attend and for families to access Washington-based offices related to POW/MIA matters. At these briefings, family members have the opportunity to meet with numerous civilian and military specialists of the government whose expertise includes: foreign government negotiation, formulation of national policy, remains recovery and identification, DNA science, archival research and intelligence analysis.

At the Annual and monthly Update Meetings, Speakers include Senior officials, Experts and Scientists who work the wide range of tasks associated with the POW/MIA Mission. During the meetings, there are formal presentations, question and answer sessions and one-one-one discussions between Government Officials and Family Members.

The DPMO has conducted these update programs since 1995, reaching more than 14,000 Family Members in these face-to-face meetings.

http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/family_support_info/familyeventsched.htm

CASUALTY LIAISON

Ensure Understanding and Unity of Purpose: The Family Support team includes four military "casualty liaison officers." They maintain contact among DPMO, the military services, and the State Department.

The DPMO military "casualty liaison officers" refine personnel accounting and personnel recovery policies and procedures with all the service casualty offices.

The military departments staff their assigned billets with field grade officers capable of articulating Defense Department positions on POW/MIA issues in oral and written communications to the families, the services, Congress and the American people. They represent a variety of military occupational specialties in combat arms.

Service Casualty Offices

Service Casualty Offices serve family members. Each Military Department maintains a service casualty office. The Department of State does the same for civilians. The officials in these offices serve as the primary liaisons for families concerning personnel recovery and accounting. Full-time civilians who have worked this issue for many years and are experienced and knowledgeable help answer family member questions. Military officials also assist and help explain the methods used to account for families' missing loved ones. Each office dedicates for family use the following addresses and telephone numbers:

IDENTIFICATION & THE FAMILY

The Service Casualty or Mortuary Office contacts the primary next-of-kin of a formerly unaccounted-for service member when an identification has been made. The family member is briefed on the government's evidence which might include DNA results, dental comparisons, identification tags, combat equipment, or eyewitness reports and interviews.

No identification is made without an exhaustive and lengthy process that involves analyzing decades of information. The results are compiled carefully to ensure the identification is complete and accurate.

The last and most important step is to ensure the families accept the identification and that all their questions are answered.

The identification is then released to the public. This announcement is usually provided to veterans and family groups, and local and national media outlets.