JPAC

I don't know if I've talked about JPAC before - it's a military operation (but includes civilian researchers) located at Hickam AFB in Hawaii. Its mission is to recover and identify missing service members and return them to their families. And part of the tools they use is the largest forensic anthropological lab in the world. If you are a biological anthropologist (or archaeologist) with a bend towards forensics, JPAC has several opportunities to join their team including internships, full employment, and a semester long 'college' where they teach you all that they do (taking DNA from bone, identifying human bone, etc.) and then send you out on a mission to Laos or Vietnam. To check out these opportunities, click on this link ORAU. Civilian jobs are posted through USAjobs, but the internships are done through Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU).

I actually have some pretty strong feelings about JPAC, not the least of which is that I really want to work there at some point in the near future. It's an amazing organization that demonstrates that not only are people not forgotten, they are actively being looked for. The newest missions started in late July/early August and will take place in Papua New Guinea investigating possible WWII airplane crash sites. Below is the full press release:

Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command

Public Affairs Office
(808) 448-1934
www.jpac.pacom.mil
Pao_mail@jpac.pacom.mil
Contact: Elizabeth C. Feeney
Aug. 5, 2010
Release # 10-10

~ NEWS RELEASE ~

POW/MIA RECOVERY & INVESTIGATION TEAMS SEARCH FOR MISSING AMERICANS
JPAC teams search for World War II aircraft crash sites

JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii (Aug. 5, 2010) – Two archeological recovery teams and one investigation team from the U.S. Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) departed Hawaii recently for missions in the Independent State of Papua New Guinea.

The more than 35-person joint field activity will be in-country for approximately 45 days to investigate and excavate several aircraft crash sites. Two recovery teams will search in the Madang and Morobe provinces at sites that are associated with the losses of more than 21 Americans missing from World War II. The investigation team will validate the authenticity of leads by conducting interviews, research, and field work in the Central and Northern provinces for 16 aircraft losses and more than 50 Americans still listed as missing in action.

Falling directly under the U.S. Department of Defense, the jointly-manned organization of more than 400 military and civilian specialists has investigated and recovered missing Americans since the 1970’s. To date there are approximately 74,190 unaccounted-for Americans from World War II.

The ultimate goal of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, and of the agencies involved in returning America’s heroes home, is to achieve the fullest possible accounting of Americans lost during the nation’s past conflicts.

"Until They Are Home"