12. Navy Marketing, Facebook, and the Defense Casualty Information Processing System (DCIPS)

In the immediate hours, days and weeks following Allison’s death in 2009, Colter’s Navy-assigned Casualty Assistance Call Officer (CACO) would walk him through detailed paperwork that remains a blur to this day.

Immediately after the death of your loved one as the Next of Kin, you sign off on remains, personal effects, mortuary affairs, and OPNAV form 1770/1, ”Consent to Release Information,” among other forms.

The Department of the Navy bills this as:“OPNAV 1770/1 is completed by a spouse, parent, or child of majority of a deceased Sailor to provide written permission to release their contact information to a member of Congress for condolence purposes.”

The minuscule fine print atop OPNAV form 1770/1 (see image below) lists additional uses for the consent, but I need to research what the legal jargon means. I do, however, clearly understand the following "disclosure" placed at the end of the “Privacy Act Statement."

“DISCLOSURE: Voluntary. However, failure to provide the requested information may cause payments of benefits and entitlements to be delayed.”

So, if you don’t sign, your legally entitled benefits as the Survivor of your Service Member— who died only days ago— may be delayed.

The CACO then meticulously enters all documents, and information gathered, into the Defense Casualty Information Processing System (DCIPS). This individual, who is not an attorney and actively serves in the Navy, has an enormous job demanding great dignity, compassion, and of course a strong adherence to policy.

The CACO only speaks with Primary and Secondary Next of Kin. The CACO, according to DoD policy, may only have this one job while they carry out this important duty.

Colter recalls his CACO as having more than one job at the time. She was not always available.

*Colter’s CACO, who also served Allison’s family members, became friends on Facebook with Allison’s friends. She became part of the social group of collective grief, which morphed into the collective of grief, the collective of remembrance. She did not know Colter or Allison prior to serving as his CACO.*

My point in *noting this* is to highlight that she was assigned to help Colter navigate the casualty process. She also served Allison’s family. She also became part of the online legacy of death, the online story of the aftermath of this tragedy.

Concurrently, a mafioso of mourners, a conglomerate of Navy leaders (more to come), and the power of social media managed the remembrance, managed Colter’s actions despite what he asserted, managed documents, managed signatures, and usurped Colter's online and Facebook reputation.

Eleven years later, in 2020 Colter’s reputation, grief, remembrance, role, duty, would all be hijacked and managed again by the U.S. Navy, against his written instruction. It would be a violation of OUR privacy this time (though not the first).

This would happen at a time when we were navigating the loss of two babies, one after the other. Two babies whose ashes I have tucked away. I needed my husband and the Navy usurped him to serve its needs above and beyond how any other Sailor is required to serve.

In 2009, Colter lost his late wife. He did not need to be managed. He needed to be allowed to grieve in his own rhythm, in his own manner. There’s no path or process that is right or wrong.

We can comfort the bereaved. It is antithetical to manage them or assign how they grieve.

Information related to the death of any Service Member is entered in DCIPS.

“The system [DCIPS] allows for online receipt of casualty messages, provides cross-functional case management of casualties to include, casualty incident, disposition of remains, mortuary affairs, prior conflicts and wars, personal effects, remains tracking and permits interactive update and data exchange with casualty assistance centers, mortuaries, Service casualty offices, Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC), other DoD components and formulates required documents and reports. DCIPS interfaces with Service personnel databases and DMDC by retrieving personnel data and providing DoD with official casualty statistics.”

This paragraph arrived with my first set of FOIA“Responsive Documents.”. This paragraph is dry, specific, and there is no legal jargon. This is policy.

There is no mention of any intent of this database to be used beyond casualty and mortuary processes. There is no mention of how DCIPS relates to the Navy Gold Star’s presence on Facebook.

When in fact, the casualty and Next of Kin data in DCIPS is leveraged for use by the only Navy Program to have the rare privilege in military culture of telling Navy Leaders UP the Chain of Command what to do, how to act, and what to say.

The Navy Gold Star Program, while initiated by the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) in 2014, is not an official Navy “command." The mission provides support and referral for the families of the fallen (see image below). The NGSP of today tells the Navy what to do. It markets itself and the families of the fallen, without proper oversight from above, and without adhering to strict Navy or DoD Policy.

On Facebook the NGSP describes itself as, “a CNIC Fleet and Family Readiness program that honors Gold Star Families.”

Honor (as a verb) is to fulfill an obligation, regard with great respect, or pay public respect to.

Honor is not mentioned in the description below. (My nit-picking of this word will have purpose in a future post.)

This program is also not part of the DoD appropriated budget annually up for approval by Congress. Rather, it is a Non-Appropriated Fund Program (NAF). It is part of the “business” side of the Navy, underneath the umbrella of Command, Navy Installations Command, (CNIC) headquartered in Washington, D.C.

NAF Programs need to make money to support sustainability. It does this through sponsorships, both at in-person events, and online marketing, such as on the Navy Gold Star Program’s Facebook page— managed by the Navy Fleet and Family Readiness Marketing (N94P).

The pros of this set-up include longevity in a much needed program, and ability to advocate for the families of the fallen on behalf of their needs. The cons of this program will be featured in my next post.

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OPNAV form 1770/1 “Consent to Release Personal Information”

Document Establishing the Navy Gold Star Program. It was intended to provide long term casualty assistance for the families of the fallen. In August of 2014.