Officials are slated to break ground May 1 at Dover AFB, Del., for a new Fisher House that will be dedicated to families of fallen service members. Dover is home to the Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations Center, which operates DOD’s sole Port Mortuary. Currently family and friends who travel to Dover to witness a Dignified Transfer are housed in local area hotels. Todd Rose, the center’s mortuary affairs division director, said, “Our mission is two-fold: dignity, honor, and respect to our fallen service members and care for their families.” President Obama donated $250,000 of his $1.4 million Nobel Peace Prize money to the Fisher House organization, which said in a release the money would fund facilities at Dover—an eight-bedroom facility expected to be completed this fall—and the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. (Dover report by A1C Matthew Hubby) (Also see Fisher House Web site)
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.