Casualty Assistance Team performs mission: One chance to get it right

Published July 20, 2011
By Airman 1st Class Dennis L. Sloan
Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Public Affairs

JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- The Fort Dix Casualty Assistance Center coordinates and provides Notification to the Next of Kin of Active-Duty, deployed Guard and Reserve Soldiers, on behalf of the Secretary of the U.S. Army.

When the CAC is notified of a Soldier's death, both a Casualty Notification Officer and a Chaplain must notify the deceased Soldier's elected primary and secondary Next of Kin.

The Casualty Assistance Officer is a Soldier, either Enlisted or Commissioned and must be of equal or higher rank than the deceased Soldier. He or she must coordinate all funeral arrangements, and ensure the class A dress uniform for the deceased Soldier is flawless. A CAO must attend a 2 day certification course before they can perform these duties.

"I take my job of training CNO's/CAO's very seriously because I know if I were in the Family members shoes, I would not want someone who is unprepared to tell me that my son, daughter, brother, sister, father or mother was deceased," said Timothy Adams, Fort Dix CAC, Training Instructor.

Adams is a retired Soldier who, in his last three years of military service, was a CNO. He experienced firsthand what it takes to notify Families their loved ones were deceased.

"I don't do this for the paycheck," said Adams. "This is not a duty, not a job, but an honor I take very seriously."

Honor detail and military burial honors are provided by the Army. If family members are spread out across the country, the military will pay for Family travel to attend the Active Duty funeral and reimburses certain travel expenses.

"It can be very emotional sometimes dealing with the family members of the deceased Soldiers," said Ariel Rivera, Fort Dix CAC Memorial Affairs Coordinator. "Even though it's hard, I feel good at the end of each day pursuing the Army's Covenant of "Taking care of the Soldiers and their Families".

Rivera worked as a Mortuary Affairs Specialist with the Army for eight years. He performed identification and the preparing of the remains for burial.

He said he has seen the entire process from start to finish and feels each step is as critical as the next.

The CAC not only deals with notifying the Families and preparing the remains for burial, but assists the beneficiary's with the benefits and entitlements claims processes. The burial may be a 72-hour process, but the legal paper work can last more than six months.

"I have seen Soldiers die in battle and wonder what happens," said Maj. Mark Novales, Fort Dix CAC Case Manager. "Now that I work in this office, I see it up-close and in person. We don't just notify the Family, we go through every step of the grieving process with them."

Mark Pieklik, Fort Dix CAC Casualty Operations Coordinator, may do one of the most significant and memorable things for the Families and their fallen Soldiers. He is responsible for preparing the flag case with the deceased Soldier's rank, ribbon rack, badges and awards on a black felt board. The box is then given to the appropriate Family members.

"I measure the distance between each award, rank or ribbon rack to make it as uniform as possible for the families," said Pieklik. "This is my therapy, and it helps make the job a little easier."

The Fort Dix CAC is responsible for the State of New Jersey, 17 counties within New York and five counties within Pennsylvania. A staff comprised of only six members takes care of the families within these areas week in and week out.

"I never would have imagined the detail that goes into this process or the detail the Department of the Army insists," said Novales. "There is no room for failure -- we only get one chance to get it right."

For more information on what the CAC and their team does call 562-4453.

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