Marines limit death notices from 5 a.m. to midnight

Arlington National Cemetery

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Marine Corps is putting time restrictions on when families can be notified that their loved ones are missing or have been killed.

Instead of notifying families at any time of the day or night, notifications will now take place between the hours of 5 a.m. and midnight, according to a recent MARADMIN (Marine Administrative Message).

At the beginning of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Corps decided to let family members know if their loved ones became combat casualties as soon as possible so they did not hear about it first from the news media, Corps officials said in an e-mailed response to questions Friday.

But after a forum this January on how to streamline practices to support wounded and fallen Marines, Corps officials decided to go the old standard of limiting notifications between 5 a.m. and midnight “so that clergy, other family members, neighbors and community support programs are accessible to survivors,” officials said.

Read the rest at Stars and Stripes