Most people have learned what DNA is over the past few decades; it is typically defined as the carrier of a person’s unique genetic information. Criminal investigators and genealogists can now solve cases that have been unsolved for decades thanks to DNA, which was first used in forensic science in the late 1980s. It has been crucial for the U. S. military to uphold the age-old adage,” no one left behind. “
Today, DNA is used to identify fallen and missing service members. The only human remains testing facility for the DOD is the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory, which is a component of the Defense Health Agency’s armed forces medical examination system. It conducts DNA tests on service members who have passed away during current operations as well as long-lost individuals. Millions of blood samples from people who have served over the past 32 years are kept in the Armed Forces Repository of Specimen Samples for the Identification of Remains, which collaborates with the lab.  ,
Next-Gen Techniques Aid in Cold Cases and nbsp Clearing,
The largest of the two main tasks for the DNA Identification Lab, also known as AFDIL, is past accounting. Nearly 100 analysts from this section assist the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency by offering DNA tests that aid in the identification of the remains of service members who lost their lives in previous conflicts like World War II, Korea, and Vietnam.  ,
The procedure starts out in the field. To locate the remains of service members where they were last reported to be, DPAA-trained anthropologists and archaeologists are dispatched to various locations worldwide.  ,
” It might be on a mountainside.” It might be located in a rice paddy. They complete all of that recovery, after which the remains are returned to the DPAA labs, according to Dr. Tim McMahon, director of DNA Operations for AFMES. ” Using anthropological methods, they will then begin to sort those,” 
The samples that these experts obtain are then sent to AFDIL for processing by analysts using a wide range of tools. Next-generation sequencing is one of those technological innovations. In addition,  ,
Unknown World War II and Korean service members whose bodies had been chemically treated during the embalming process were unable to be tested by the lab for a very long time, according to McMahon, because those chemicals did n’t fit with standard testing procedures. However, the lab is now able to obtain results from chemically treated, highly degraded samples thanks to advancements in next-generation sequencing generated by AFDIL.  , ++
Many of those bones have been present for 80 years, according to McMahon. ” When we remove that bone, we obtain bacterial, fungal, parasitic, and severely degraded human DNA.” nbsp
” Many of the samples we receive have been subjected to a variety of extremely unfavorable environmental conditions. They are occasionally covered in jet fuel. According to Katelin Hollowell, a DNA analyst for the previous accounting mission, they have occasionally been burned, interred, or lost in salt water. How much DNA is present in the sample and can be recovered is influenced by all of those factors, according to nbsp.
Analysts use next-gen sequencing to bind the damaged DNA to human mitochondrial DNA-RNA, which are ribonucleic acid probes with a metal molecule bond. The laboratory can then remove the damaged human DNA/mtDNA-RNA probe from the non-human DNA using magnets. The mtDNA- RNA probes are used as bait to carry out the enrichment process. In addition,  ,
According to McMahon,” These probes are relatively human-specific, so they will bind primarily to human [mitochondrial ] DNA.” In a vast pool of bacterial, fungal, and parasitic DNA that is mixed with our sample, “it allows us to enrich—or pull—that human DNA.” nbsp
According to McMahon, they were able to complete four samples per month with a 24 % success rate when they began the next-gen sequencing in 2016. With a 65 % success rate, they are currently processing more than 100 samples per month.  ,
The director clarified that the lab is happy to share its cutting-edge techniques with others across the nation and the globe, but added that” we’re still the only laboratory in the world that can do this.” In addition,  ,
” We make everything public. If people ask for our results, we provide them in our standard operating procedures, according to McMahon. Nobody needs to start over from scratch. If we can help the local jurisdictions return these unidentified human remains or cold case scenarios to their loved ones, we want to do the same for our fallen military members.
A readable DNA sample from the remains will be processed by scientists, who will then compare it to DNA from missing person families. According to McMahon, the lab conducts three genetic tests on DNA: Y chromosome short tandem repeat tests, which determine paternal lineage from male offspring, and mitochondrial DNA tests to determine maternal ancestry.  ,
This means that the family member whose DNA was donated will be used as a comparison in the tests that scientists can run. A service member’s sister, for instance, would only have her DNA tested twice if she donated it. Three DNA tests would be performed on the brother of a service member who donated. In addition,  ,
According to McMahon, “because they shared the same mother, [that brother ] shares mitochondrial DNA with the missing service member.” We can identify them as siblings by using the nuclear or autosomal short tandem repeat because they shared a mother and father. Additionally, that brother shares the same Y chromosome as the missing service member because he shared a father. We would therefore need to test three times as a brother.
Crucial For Comparison: Using Regular DNA References and nbsp,
How precisely do experts obtain DNA from the families of deceased service members? There are two ways to obtain those samples. The first is through genealogical searches, which are carried out by representatives of the service casualty office to locate missing people’s families. After identifying family members, those representatives send them a kit so they can donate their DNA via swabs on their cheeks. These samples are then sent by the families to the DNA Lab for analysis. In addition,  ,
The second method of sample collection is through regional family member updates hosted by DPAA, which are held for families of service members who have gone missing a few times per year.  , ++
Family members of our missing heroes receive briefings from their service casualty officers, DPAA representatives, and AFDIL during the family member updates, according to McMahon. ” I interact with the families by providing a DNA update, and after that, we will personally gather references from qualified family members.”
A family reference database is then created using the samples. According to McMahon, the database currently contains the DNA of 86 % of the original 2, 641 Vietnam-era missing service members and 92 % of those who are missing from Korea. It’s a little more complicated for World War II, he said.  , ++
According to McMahon,” If you take the original 73, 678 World War II missing, AFDIL has family reference samples on file for 17 % of the missing service members.” He did, however, add that they have more family connections for particular battle sites. There are still 486 service members who are missing from the Battle of Tarawa. I have an 88 % coverage of references for those 486, and Tarawa is currently undergoing active recoveries.
Getting to know the missing people’s families is a responsibility for service branch representatives.  ,
Allen Cronin, the former conflicts branch chief for Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations, who oversees the effort to identify service members for the Air Fore, said,” I’ve talked to these families a lot over the years, so I know many of them.” Representatives like Cronin inform the families and work with them on their wishes for their loved one’s burial when a missing service member is positively identified. Additionally, they visit the homes of the families along with DPAA and DNA Lab experts to share the specifics of how the experts arrived at their conclusion. The following are:  , ++, S&P,
” Some family members have a lot of questions, and I ca n’t respond to them. I do n’t work with DNA; I’m not a scientist,” Cronin said of his position as an advocate for service casualties. In order to take the person who made the identification with me, I ask the director next door at the AFMES DNA Lab. I do n’t have to say,” Well, I’ll go back and see if I can get the answer,” as I sit there with the family. They’re going to find out the solution there . ,
The DPAA claims that it recovered the remains of 127 service members in the 2023 fiscal year, including four from Vietnam, 35 from Korea, and 88 from World War II. Nearly 81, 000 American service members are still missing.  ,
Identifying the current fallen and nbsp,
Current day operations, which support AFMES forensic pathology investigations division work in identifying service members and civilians who pass away in current theaters of operation, while receiving training, or on property under federal exclusive jurisdiction, are the second mission of the DNA Identification Lab.  , ++
Any case that comes up for AFMES after 1991 is regarded as a current day operation. It’s also the year of the first Gulf War, which is when DNA started to be used more frequently to identify people in the United States. Since then, no missing service members have been reported. In addition,  ,
Since 1991, the Armed Forces Repository of Specimen Samples for the Identification of Remains has a DNA blood reference card on file for all military personnel and deployable contractors. According to McMahon, they have more than 9 million cards on file and log about 200, 000 new cards annually. In addition,  ,
According to McMahon,” they are used for the identification of that service member if they are killed in a current theater of operation or training accident.” The cards can be used in other ways as well because they are kept as a medical record and are maintained for 50 years after the date of collection.  , ++
McMahon continued,” For instance, if a retired service member passes away and the local jurisdiction is unable to perform fingerprint or dental identification, and there are no living relatives who can provide an DNA reference, AFDIL may be able to help in the member’s best interest.” I can obtain the card if their crime lab creates a DNA profile from those unidentified human remains and sends it to me. To compare it, I will process it here. If they agree, I’ll give them what we refer to as a “believe to be” report with data. However, we do not make the DNA profile information public.
Analysts claim that compared to the majority of the DNA samples tested in previous accounting, the current samples are fresher and of higher quality. They resemble those put to the test in a crime lab more.  ,
According to Miranda Frady, a DNA analyst for modern-day operations,” they’re typically easier to process and get quick turnaround times of ID, which is what the families want.” It’s been streamlined. We try to get those out to the medical examiner as quickly as we can because we have a process that works for us.
Frady, who has worked at the DNA lab for ten years, claimed that the work is extremely satisfying. In addition,  ,
It’s crucial for me to be able to return that information to their families because these loved ones have given the ultimate sacrifice, she said. ” I contribute in a small way to giving them some closure,”nbsp
Today’s analysts also contribute to peacetime losses, such as the 1952 Air Force C-124 crash on Mount Gannett, Alaska. Every June, a group of service members and civilians travel to the wreckage to conduct search and rescue operations as part of the joint mission known as Operation Colony Glacier.  ,
Since 2012, we have been conducting recoveries there, according to McMahon. The medical examiners were able to identify 47 of the 52 missing people thanks to our current day’s DNA section.
We also support military hospitals, other federal agencies, and military law enforcement organizations, Frady said. ” We can provide DNA testing in the event of a mass fatality or something similar,” 
Key  Quality Control is here.
While Frady, Hollowell, and their associates work on DNA samples, other analysts, like Ashley Doran- Roth, work in quality control to ensure that the lab’s tools and reagents—the chemicals and kits required to test samples—are functioning properly so that successful identifications can continue.  ,
According to Doran- Roth,” If something breaks down, we have to go and fix it.” The reagents must be made, labeled, delivered to the labs, and tracked by the nbsp.
According to her, the day-to-day for QC analysts frequently changes depending on what’s happening in the world and what kinds of samples are being tested the most.  , ++
” For instance, the lab was very helpful with identifications there when 9/11 occurred. We must therefore determine,” OK, we have more samples of this kind.” We need to perform these types of reagents, she said. In addition,  ,
The DNA Lab’s overall goal is to provide service members and their families with some of the most crucial work possible, providing closure when necessary.  , ++
The key, in Doran-Roth’s opinion, is that” we all work together.” ” We are all intermixed despite being in different sections, and we all assist one another in carrying out this shared goal, which is to return our service members.”