Mortuary Affairs Specialist

“Support mortuary affairs operations — the Army's program ensuring the dignified return of fallen soldiers. A solemn, essential, and honored specialty. Develop skills in remains processing, documentation, and mortuary services. One of the most emotionally demanding and important roles in the Army.”

You perform mortuary affairs — the recovery, identification, preparation, and dignified transfer of remains. The job description that the Army provides cannot adequately prepare you for the actual work, which is one of the most emotionally demanding things a human being can do professionally, and which the Army provides inconsistent psychological support for doing. You will work with remains in conditions that range from controlled to field austere to mass casualty, and you will do this work with a professionalism and dignity that the fallen deserve and that you will carry with you for the rest of your life. The people who do this work well are a specific kind of person: capable of compartmentalization, motivated by the dignity of the mission, and able to find meaning in work that most people cannot look at directly. The civilian transition to funeral services — licensed funeral director, embalmer, mortuary services management — is direct. Funeral homes and military mortuary contractors hire 92M veterans regularly because the skill set is immediately applicable and the composure under emotional pressure is already developed. The work matters in a way that is hard to articulate and impossible to forget. If you can do it, the people you serve are grateful in a way that transcends acknowledgment.