Groundbreaking: reservist is first female to head Dover's port mortuary

A lot of new ground is being broken at the Charles C. Carson Center for Mortuary Affairs, Dover Air Force Base, Del.

In late October, officials cut the ribbon on the mortuary's new home, a $30 million, 73,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility. Just prior to the opening of the facility, the mortuary received a new director, who brings several firsts to the position. Karen Giles is the first female to serve in the center's top position as well as the first non-licensed mortician. Giles is also the first reservist to occupy the mortuary's top job.

While she may be new to the position, Giles is not new to death and the impact it has on people, not only grieving family members but also those who work in the mortuary.

The daughter of an Army sergeant, Giles earned a degree in biomedical engineering from the University of Illinois.

After graduation, she visited an Air Force recruiter and explained she wanted a job in research and development. The recruiter suggested the services career field, where there was a manning shortage. Ninety days later, she was a newly commissioned second lieutenant on her way to Ellsworth AFB, S.D.

Six months into the position, a helicopter crashed, and the 22-year-old was selected to serve as a member of the search and recovery team.

"I was still trying to figure out how many stripes a master sergeant had, and suddenly I was part of this very important mission," she said.

Giles found the work overwhelming, yet intriguing.

"It wasn't the site of death or even working around it that bothered me but instead how I reacted when it was over," she said.

For weeks, the young officer slept with the lights on and frequently experienced flashbacks.

"All of my reactions were normal, but I had no idea because no one talked about it," Giles said. "At that time, issues such as the mental health of crisis workers were not addressed."

Her close-knit family helped Giles deal with the flood of emotions as she continued in her career. While serving a remote tour in Greenland, she became more acquainted with the mortuary affairs aspect of her career field.

Her next job, course director for mortuary training at the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, drew her even deeper into the mission of mortuary affairs.

"I began going to conferences and hearing how police and fire departments had debriefings after a crisis and how they offered life skills and other support services to their workers," she said. "I was determined to bring (similar services) to the Air Force."

Giles believes she fulfilled her mission by incorporating some of what she learned into AFIT's curriculum, but the military drawdown of the early 1990s found her leaving active duty and the job she loved.

She transferred into the Reserve and continued teaching as an individual mobilization augmentee at AFIT.

Wanting to never lose touch with the heart of the mortuary affairs mission, Giles frequently volunteered to support contingency operations at the Air Force mortuaries at Dover and Travis AFB, Calif.

Giles reported to the Pentagon after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and worked in the personal effects depot. In the ensuing months, she visited Dover's mortuary often to offer assistance in the processing of remains from Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraq Freedom.

Early this year, Giles reported to Dover's mortuary on a lengthy man-day tour and was named deputy memorial affairs casualty director Those man-days rolled into the 41-year-old's next full-time civilian venture, being named the new civilian director in August.

Senior Master Sgt. Raenita Monroe has worked with Giles on many occasions over her nearly 20-year career.

"We are very excited that Lt. Col Giles is the new director," said Monroe, NCO in charge of operations 512th Memorial Affairs Squadron a Dover. "She understands our world the world of a reservist who sometimes serves in an active-duty world."

Monroe said Giles has the reputation of being a good listener and someone who "weighs all the options before jumping into something."

Giles views the latest move in her career as another learning experience and hopes she can bring something new and exciting to the table. She often finds it useful to draw on her experiences as both a civilian and a military officer.

"You work with so many different people in this job, the families who are grief stricken, the active-duty and civilian staff members who are here every day, and the many reservists who really know this job and report here at a moment's notice," Giles said. "I like having the ability to interact with all of them and understand their perspective."

Giles is committed to continuing to help mortuary workers excel in their professional lives while ensuring their emotional needs are a priority.

"I want to keep introducing technology that allows us to do our job better, smarter and healthier. That's the legacy I want to work on," she said. "I don't have to teach these people to take pride in their work or to try and get them to work harder. The men and women here have such a strong sense of duty.

"I feel truly blessed. I know that had I not joined the Reserve I would not have been given this wonderful opportunity."

(Ms. Milhoan is chief of public affairs for the 512th AW at Dover AFB.)

COPYRIGHT 2003 Air Force Reserves
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group