Staff Writer
Staff Sgt. Nathaniel Max realizes a lot of people would look at his job description and wonder if he was disturbed. But he takes pride in what he does.
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| Staff Sgt. Nathaniel Max was a mortuary affairs specialist before he came to LTC. Photo by Chen Wang |
Virginia’s Fort Lee has the only two active duty mortuary affairs departments in the Army. They employ between 500 and 600 workers, and Max, who wanted to be a pathologist when he was growing up, is one of them.
When U.S. Soldiers die in Iraq, mortuary affairs personnel are responsible for gathering the remains and personal property, packing them in ice and shipping them home.
Max said the only time mortuary affairs workers are needed is during wartime, but ideally, their work wouldn’t be needed.
“If we’re doing our job, that means one of our Soldiers died,” Max said.
Max’s job includes helping with autopsies and determining if the deceased is fit for an open-casket funeral. If eligible for an open casket, Max will assist in dressing the Soldier in his or her Class A uniform, complete with awards.
He said that is the most rewarding part of his job.
“I want to give our fallen comrades the respect they deserve in death,” said Max, a native of Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
While making sure Soldiers are handled with care when they die is important, there are certain aspects of the work that bothers Max.
“I can’t look in their eyes,” he said. “I did it in training, and it started to bother me.”
Second Lt. Andrew Rubin, a squad tactical officer for Co. B 1/46th Inf. (Co. 7), said he would be comfortable with Max handling his remains, if anything ever happened to him.
“He’d handle me the right way,” Rubin said. “He always follows the book pretty well.”