Chapter 15 - Blast and Crash Incidents: Resolving Commingling at the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System

Abstract

The Armed Forces Medical Examiner System is a tri-service organization that supports the Department of Defense and other governmental agencies and serves the American people by providing expertise in forensic pathology, forensic anthropology, DNA sciences, forensic toxicology, mortality surveillance, and forensic psychiatry. Through a DoD directive, the AFMES arose out of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology’s Department of Forensic Sciences in 1988 (Stone 2011). The Armed Forces Medical Examiner derives his or her authority from 10 USC §1471, Forensic Pathology Investigations (1999), which governs medicolegal investigations within exclusive federal jurisdiction and establishes specific secondary jurisdiction authority in order to support the interests of the United States. In addition to determining the cause and manner of death for all current combat fatalities and fatalities occurring within exclusive federal jurisdiction, the AFMES partners with multiple DoD agencies to help mitigate combat injuries and improve the survivability of combat troops. The AFMES provides full personnel accounting of all current combat and training mishap fatalities, as well as all mass fatality incidents occurring within the jurisdiction of the AFME. Because of their unique position within the federal government, the AFMES has been exposed to a variety of commingling situations where current-day fatalities experience a high degree of fragmentation, primarily arising from air mishaps and explosive forces. The AFMES has developed standard operating procedures in which to separate, examine, analyze, and identify human remains resulting from these complex conditions.