America has worked hard to fulfill its sacred commitment to bringing home its fallen heroes with dignity, honor and respect. But it must examine its capabilities as the U.S. Army and the rest of the military prepare for possible large-scale combat operations against a near-peer adversary.

An Army mortuary affairs company is designed to process up to 400 human remains a day from up to 20 mortuary affairs collection points, according to Field Manual 4-0: Sustainment Operations. But this capacity is not enough to manage the expected daily casualty rate early in a large-scale combat environment. Mortuary affairs training and operations in this environment must be a comprehensive, combined effort between U.S. Army units and America’s allies.

The Army Mortuary Affairs Program consists of seven units: one active-duty company and six U.S. Army Reserve. The 54th Quartermaster Company (Mortuary Affairs) is the only active-duty mortuary affairs unit in the Army, and it is located at Fort Gregg-Adams, Virginia, formerly known as Fort Lee. Its sister mortuary affairs unit, the 111th Quartermaster Company (Mortuary Affairs), also out of Fort Gregg-Adams, inactivated and reallocated its personnel to the 54th Quartermaster Company on May 12, 2023.

Mass Casualties

Recent events, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, have demonstrated the importance of adequately dealing with mass casualties in large-scale combat operations. This is not a paradigm shift but a return to World War II-scale operations and Cold War planning patterns and expectations, intensified by modern technology and lethality. Training, planning and preparation for mass casualty situations are critical components of successful mortuary affairs operations.

“For us to be cohesive and be ready to fight tonight in a combined manner, combined logistics and combined sustainment training and similar operations in peacetime are necessary,” said Col. Lucas Hightower, commander of the 2nd Infantry Division Sustainment Brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division/Republic of Korea-U.S. Combined Division, headquartered at Camp Humphreys, South Korea. “For us to execute our wartime mission, we must absolutely do everything combined in our training.” 

As the senior tactical logistician on the Korean peninsula tasked with advising and guiding division logistics, Hightower said the best way to bridge the capabilities gap to bringing home America’s fallen heroes while maintaining a strategic advantage in a large-scale combat environment is to integrate with the Republic of Korea Army.

“[Large-scale combat operations] in Korea [are] against a near-peer adversary,” Hightower said. “The sheer number of casualties would greatly outpace any capabilities we have in the Army. Our exercises show that we would need to expect thousands of casualties per day by the nature of [large-scale combat] warfare in Korea. We must plan to face that reality, which brings us to the whole notion of combined mortuary affairs operations.”

Dignity, Respect

The Republic of Korea Army is going to go to war with the army it has now, while the U.S. would need time to build up its own capacity for mortuary affairs, Hightower said. “At the end of the day, if I personally perish as a member of a combined formation, I don’t care if my own remains are handled by U.S. soldiers or our allies,” he said. “What I and my family care about is that my remains are handled with dignity and respect, with the hope that they make it home in a timely manner. The matter of who handles and processes my remains is immaterial to me, as long as it makes operational sense.”

Retired Maj. Gen. Rodney Fogg, former commanding general of U.S. Army Combined Arms Support Command and the U.S. Army Sustainment Center of Excellence, said, “The Army and joint force must adapt and prepare for large-scale combat operations in highly contested, lethal environments where the enemy employs long-range fires and other capabilities that rival or surpass our own.”

Doctrine is only one factor informing how the Army fights, he said. “Of equal, if not greater, importance is how we organize, train, equip and develop leaders,” Fogg said. “The best doctrine in the world is worthless without people who make it work. Success on the battlefield begins at home station, integrating our maneuver and sustainment units through tactical training into daily support missions.”

Additionally, “bringing our fallen heroes home is of utmost importance, and having the capacity to do so is key to fulfilling this commitment,” Fogg said.

Global Hot Spot

After more than seven decades of conflict and standoff, the Korean Theater remains one of the world’s most likely venues for a future conflict involving large-scale combat operations. As of this writing, about 28,500 U.S. and 500,000 South Korean service members remain ready to “fight tonight,” according to the common refrain for forces on the peninsula. Combined operations with Republic of Korea Army counterparts are the best means of building a cohesive joint combat force.

The Republic of Korea also is likely the only place in the world where mortuary affairs soldiers and leaders conduct combined planning and training for large-scale combat operations. In January 2023, mortuary affairs soldiers from the 2nd Infantry Division Sustainment Brigade and its subordinate battalion, the 194th Division Sustainment Support Battalion, and the Republic of Korea Army’s 5th Logistics Support Brigade met at Camp Humphreys to conduct a first-of-its-kind combined mortuary affairs unit recovery team field training exercise.

Soldiers from both countries worked through frigid conditions to establish and operate a mortuary affairs collection point according to U.S. Army doctrine. As the soldiers worked through language and cultural barriers, they quickly found common ground for appropriately handling human remains, regardless of their country of origin. The exercise served as an excellent proof of concept for a subsequent combined event during Ulchi Freedom Shield in August with the Republic of Korea Army’s 3rd Battalion, 28th Infantry Brigade, 9th Infantry Division, 1st Corps.

Multiple weeks of casualty evacuation procedures, search and recovery, and contaminated-remains training resulted in shared understanding between the forces. Cross-training with South Korean army counterparts eventually will facilitate a more efficient process of handling human remains and personal effects in a combat environment.

Combined Training

One mortuary affairs collection point can receive, process and coordinate evacuation for up to 20 remains a day. Each mortuary affairs collection point has a minimum of six mortuary affairs soldiers to run a 24-hour operation. From the mortuary affairs collection point, personnel are evacuated to the theater mortuary affairs evacuation point for final evacuation to Dover Air Force Base, Delaware.

This process can be greatly improved through combined training to reduce processing times for each fallen hero and increasing capacity over time.

The 2nd Infantry Division Sustainment Brigade has undertaken endeavors to explore conducting combined mortuary affairs operations in large-scale combat operations. To that end, the brigade has coordinated extensively with its Republic of Korea Army counterparts to conduct individual and collective training events that explore compatibilities in doctrine, policy and procedures.

Brigade leaders also have leveraged U.S. Forces Korea’s Wartime Host Nation Support Program to identify South Korean government and commercial capabilities to bridge known logistics shortfalls that otherwise might impede fulfillment of both nations’ commitments to bring their fallen heroes home with dignity and respect.

The Wartime Host Nation Support Program is an agreement between the U.S. and Republic of Korea governments designed to address large-scale combat operations issues and other wartime support. The program helps U.S. Forces Korea provide timely combat support and combat service support resources for the reception, staging, onward movement and sustainment of U.S. forces in the event of crisis, hostility or war.

Bridging the Gap

America has fulfilled its sacred commitment to bringing home its fallen heroes with dignity, honor and respect. Yet, the casualties experienced over the 20 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan will seem small compared to the operational and strategic realities of tomorrow’s projected large-scale combat operations fight. Increased equipment, training and expanded capabilities must be considered and planned accordingly.

The mortuary affairs program continues to be an essential topic of discussion among multiple levels of command. Commanders at all levels must account for their losses while maintaining the morale and welfare of the living. The Army is the only service with an active component, dedicated mortuary affairs force structure capable of providing support to the other services.

The 2nd Infantry Division Sustainment Brigade is working through training exercises, combined training with South Korean partners and utilizing the Wartime Host Nation Support Program to bridge this gap to fulfill America’s commitment to bringing home fallen heroes with dignity and respect, while enabling the force to fight tonight.

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Maj. Adam Harris is the officer in charge of support operations, 194th Division Sustainment Support Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division Sustainment Brigade, Camp Humphreys, South Korea. Previously, he served as the forward deployed commander of mortuary affairs, 111th Quartermaster Company (Mortuary Affairs), 1st Theater Sustainment Command, in support of operations Enduring Freedom and Inherent Resolve, and before that, as officer in charge of the mortuary affairs collection points in Bagram and Kandahar, both in Afghanistan, 111th Quartermaster Company, attached to the 3rd Infantry Division.

Maj. Junhyuk Oh, Republic of Korea Army, is attached to the South Korean Presidential Security Service. Previously, he was the Republic of Korea Army operations officer in charge counterpart to the 2nd Infantry Division Sustainment Brigade, Camp Humphreys. He graduated in 2011 from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York. He has a master’s in industrial and labor relations from Cornell University, New York.