Photo By Sgt. Zachary Zippe | Sgt. 1st Class Joshua Wells, mortuary affairs noncommissioned officer in charge,...... read more read more
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CAMP BONDSTEEL, Kosovo – Sgt. 1st Class Joshua Wells, mortuary affairs noncommissioned officer in charge, Regional Command-East, Kosovo Force, trained a unit recovery team on mortuary affairs at Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo on Jan. 6, 2021.
Unit recovery teams are responsible for recovering the remains of RC-E multinational and U.S. Soldiers in the event of their death.
Four Soldiers were certified to make up the team, starting with a classroom portion in the morning. In the afternoon, they conducted a scenario analysis before working as a team in a practical exercise. Wells assessed the team on proper evaluation, documentation and transportation of remains.
“We honor the Soldiers throughout the process with dignity and respect,” said Wells. “We want to make sure the Soldiers that are on these teams understand the complexity and respect the situation.”
Wells said they make the training as thorough as possible. Attention to detail is extremely important throughout the process; if anything is missed, the team would have to start over again.
Spc. Matt Dedonato, an avionics mechanic with 3rd Battalion, 238th General Aviation Support Battalion, Delaware Army National Guard, was selected to be the team lead for the training exercise. He said he had never done remains removal training before, but he was ready to learn and take on a new challenge.
"We learned how to sweep an area before recovering the remains," said Dedonato. "There are certain things that need to be flagged. The area has to be mapped out, and that's all to take accountability of the area. There are also certain personal effects that need to be documented, and of course the actual transportation of the remains."
Wells emphasized the importance of the transportation process as a way to honor the Soldier. There are a lot of moving parts working together to reassure friends and family that their loved ones are treated with respect. The team is trained to handle situations with extreme care from the moment they receive the mission to the moment they return the remains back home.
"We want to make sure that Soldier or individual is not delayed and is taken care of properly," said Wells.
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| Date Taken: | 01.07.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 01.11.2021 08:39 |
| Story ID: | 386704 |
| Location: | CAMP BONDSTEEL, ZZ |
| Web Views: | 225 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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