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QUẢNG TRỊ, Vietnam –After spending years in laboratories and archaeological digs across the globe — from a post-classic Mayan town in Belize to colonial cemeteries in Mississippi, this year marked a new kind of fieldwork for a seasoned scientist: her first full recovery mission with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.
After joining DPAA in late 2024, forensic anthropologist Dr. Larkin F. Kennedy was quickly deployed to Quảng Trị province, Vietnam, for 2 months in the beginning of 2025 with a small team of service members and civilians. They worked as one of five recovery teams sent out with the second mission to Vietnam in fiscal year 2025, in hopes of finding remains of U.S. personnel from the Vietnam War.
“This team is great, and I am impressed by how interested and invested they are in archaeology,” Kennedy said. “Everyone cares a ton about the outcome of this mission and is working so hard to make it go well that it makes my job much easier than it could be otherwise.”
The mission was part of a Joint Field Activity, one of DPAA’s primary operations of recovering and identifying remains to provide the fullest possible accounting for America’s missing personnel to their families and the nation. While Kennedy previously deployed to the Philippines to disinter remains from the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, this was her first full archaeological excavation under DPAA.
“You can never really know what an experience is going to be like based only on the stories you hear or the reports you read,” Kennedy said. “Having someone with field experience to ask questions of or bounce ideas off of is a really valuable opportunity.”
A key to Kennedy’s successful experience was DPAA’s mentor-mentee system, which pairs less experienced field personnel with seasoned team members. Rob Ingraham, a forensic archaeologist who has completed more than 30 successful missions with DPAA, served as Kennedy’s mentor for this Joint Field Activity.
For Ingraham, mentorship is essential — not just for the technical work, but for preparing scientists to navigate the complexity of DPAA’s unique operating environment.
“Overall, I would say that this experience was really eye-opening,” Ingraham said. “Of course, every scientific recovery expert will have their own style, and the mentorship really accommodates that. We have laboratory standard operating procedures and a sort of final result we strive for, but each scientific recovery expert will have some leeway in the decision-making process that brings us there.”
Ingraham emphasized the critical role mentorship plays in integrating new personnel with diverse professional backgrounds. He elaborated on the fact that DPAA’s scientific recovery experts come from a range of experiences within the larger field of anthropology. Some are coming from the private sector, running large projects with tight budgets and timelines; others are coming right from academia where the scope, scale and pace is different.
“As the mentor, it can be odd to not be the one making decisions, and to instead be the safety net for a new scientist as they find the ropes,” said Ingraham. “It’s been really interesting as a way to examine my own style and to think about my peers and how we all approach problems differently, which has been great.”
Kennedy previously worked in both academic and cultural resource management archaeology. Her work in archaeological surveys and rescue excavations has spanned through Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas. Her roles varied from archaeological technician to fieldwork supervisor and mortuary specialist. Even with her extensive background, Kennedy said the new environment brought unfamiliar challenges.
“I’ve never had to excavate and also participate in diplomatic relationships or be the only civilian on an all-military team before, and that kind of newness would be intimidating if you were on your own,” she said.
Having a mentor that can meet the skills and experience of the new scientific recovery expert can be invaluable. They provide guidance on applying mentee’s previously gained knowledge and adapting to the teams, sites, and conditions at DPAA.
“Regardless of background, working within a military team — often as the only civilian — is unusual,” Ingraham emphasized. “It takes time to get used to the framework that the individual skills are being used within. Mentees may have done big projects, but maybe haven’t done so on steep slopes, or with host governments, or under creek beds. The challenges at each site can be unique.”
Prior to DPAA, Kennedy worked as a contractor with the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education and SNA International. She holds a Ph.D. in biological anthropology from Texas A&M University, where she specialized in bio-archaeology. Her dissertation focused on ancient human mobility and migration, using chemical isotopes in tooth enamel to trace where individuals buried at a single site may have grown up.
She also holds undergraduate degrees in biology and classical civilizations from Denison University in Granville, Ohio, with concentrations in evolutionary phylogenetics and Greek and Roman archaeology.
She said the transition from academic and cultural resource management archaeology to federal forensic recovery work brings a shift in focus. That focus, she noted, “adds a forensic layer to archaeological standards.”
“There’s an added emphasis on chain of custody and legal scrutiny,” she said. “We might even have to overlook interesting finds, like Roman-era coins or pirate treasure, if they don’t relate to the service member we’re trying to recover — and that feels really strange.”
Now based out of Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, Kennedy is one of eight civilian anthropologists who deploy regularly from the location, supported by additional scientists and managers.
“I’m actually already scheduled to deploy again to Vietnam this August,” Kennedy said. “Working for a federal organization is different because the clients are the families of missing service members. We have a very specific focus, and the archaeology we do is tailored to that purpose.”
| Date Taken: | 04.25.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 04.25.2025 23:18 |
| Story ID: | 496256 |
| Location: | VN |
| Web Views: | 26 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Mentorship Shapes First Field Mission for DPAA Forensic Anthropologist, by Sgt Morgan Burgess, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
