Operation 85 Visits Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL)
Operation 85 Visits Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL)
On September 11, Operation 85 leadership traveled to Dover, Delaware, for an important series of meetings focused on DNA identification, family engagement, and improving the Family Reference Sample process.
Operation 85 Executive Director Kevin Kline, Deputy Director John Hardy, and Chief Genealogist Melinde Lutz-Byrne toured the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) at Dover Air Force Base as part of the Dover FMU events and spent approximately an hour with members of the laboratory team.
The visit provided an opportunity to better understand the science behind the personnel accounting mission, ask questions directly of the professionals performing this work, and discuss how Operation 85 can better educate families and supporters about what happens behind the scenes once a Family Reference Sample enters the identification process.
AFDIL plays a critical role in the Department of Defense effort to identify missing service members through DNA analysis. For families participating in the accounting mission, understanding that process can help build confidence, answer questions, and make the experience less intimidating.
Following the laboratory tour, Operation 85 participated in an approximately two-hour meeting with representatives from AFDIL, the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps Service Casualty Offices, DPAA leadership, and Operation 85.
Much of the discussion centered on family engagement and the DNA Family Reference Sample collection process.
As an official DPAA partner, one of Operation 85’s priorities is helping support a process that is as efficient and family-friendly as possible. That includes reducing unnecessary duplication, preventing delays, improving communication between organizations, and making it easier for families who want to participate in the accounting mission to do so.
The meeting provided an important opportunity to discuss challenges directly, identify areas where coordination can improve, and continue building stronger working relationships among the organizations responsible for supporting families.
Operation 85 believes those conversations can lead to meaningful improvements in the way families are contacted, guided, and supported throughout the Family Reference Sample process.
The Dover visit also provided an opportunity to welcome Captain Kimberly Oelschlager as the new Director of the U.S. Navy Casualty Office in Millington, Tennessee.
Captain Oelschlager comes from a multi-generational military family that included five uncles who served during World War II in the Army and Army Air Forces. That family history gives her a personal connection to the importance of accounting for missing American service members and providing answers to the families who have waited for them.
For Operation 85, the Dover meetings were another step toward strengthening cooperation among families, scientists, casualty offices, and DPAA in support of the broader POW/MIA accounting mission.
Unknown No More.