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Millions of Potential Stories

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Noah Coger
  • Armed Forces Medical Examiner System
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  Each and every individual that decides to join the United States Armed Forces has a definitive and different reason for choosing to serve their country. The first steps of that service, inevitably, is basic training. Every day, thousands of recruits go through basic training in various locations, dependent on their selected branch of service. And on one of those days, hundreds of them are gathered into a single location, all sitting on cold tile, listening intently to instructions, waiting to get “jabbed”. This is the day that every recruit receives all inoculations that are required or need updating and when blood is drawn to create a DNA reference specimen for storage.

The crowd will be called to stand, row by row, form a single line, and file through a door into another room. While slowly making their way through the door, anticipation runs high while jokes of feeling like cattle are quietly tossed around. On the other side of the door, multiple technicians stand on either side of the line, prepared to stick recruits in both shoulders with various needles. The technicians in charge of drawing blood will methodically fill in the two circles on a DNA reference card that contains the recruit’s information, before shuffling the next one through. Very few in line, will ever give a second thought about what happens next to their card.

Meanwhile, at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, the eight-person Armed Forces Medical Examiner System’s (AFMES) Armed Forces Repository of Specimen Samples (AFRSSIR) team receives thousands of those very same DNA blood stain cards from across the country, every week.

“Throughout the DoD there are ten basic training sites that we collect from,” said Mimi Kramer, AFRSSIR repository supervisor. “There is five Army, two Marine Corps, one Air Force, one Navy, and one Coast Guard. Additionally, there are over 600 sites which are either permanent duty stations or contract sites that we also collect from.”

The AFRSSIR has been the sole storage hub for every service member’s DNA blood stain card since collection started in 1992, which also includes certain contractors and civilian employees. To date, there are over 9.3 million DNA blood stain cards stored at the AFRSSIR.

“The last full week of June was this year’s highest week so far,” said Kramer. “We hit 8,348, and that was in just one week.”

All these DNA blood stain cards are required to reach the AFRSSIR within ten days of being collected. They typically come in a large shipping box, with each card in its own nylon pouch. They are then separated by site and date received and distributed to one of four specimen processors. The processors then sort through each box, manually cut open every single pouch, ensure that each card has an adequate amount of blood in both circles, then enter the card’s information into the Specimen Management System, a proprietary software that assists with the storage and location of each card.

Once, entered into this system, a label is printed out with the same demographics that are on the card. That sticker also contains the collection date of the DNA bloodstain card along with the collection site and a unique accession number.

“That unique accession number allows us to know where that card is located in the actual tray,” said Kramer. “That way we can easily pull that card if needed because the blood can be pulled as evidence, or paternity testing or genetics testing.”

Every card is then repackaged into a new polyfoil pouch with a desiccant inside. Once complete, a tray of 400 cards is then delivered to the two-member quality control team to undergo a two-layer quality control review.

“Those technicians are looking to identify any potential error or discrepancies,” said Kramer. “The database will actually tell the QC members which cards to take a look at, ensuring that the information on the cards is accurate according to the database. That database is pulling the information from the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS). So, if the information on the card conflicts with what is in DEERS, then they will reject that card.”

If a card is rejected for any reason, the original collection site will be notified within 24 hours through an automated daily site rejection report and the sample will need to be recollected and resubmitted. However, if they pass the quality control portion, they are individually vacuum sealed, packaged in trays of 400, and placed on a shelf for the next 50 years from the time they were originally collected. The massive shelves within the AFRSSIR can store 1,620 trays on a single row which can take up to two years to fill. In just the first half of 2025, over 116,000 DNA blood stain cards were received, processed, quality reviewed, and repackaged for storage by the eight person-team.

“We are very particular about the cards,” said Kramer. “Because in some cases, that could be the only thing that is able to identify someone. Dental or fingerprinting might not work and for those cases, it's in the best interest of the service member to have these cards on file.”

The AFRSSIR mission is extremely unique within the Armed Forces and is critical in helping to carry on the stories of those who served.

“I think it's just very interesting,” said Kramer. “Each card has its own story, that is how we look at it and all eight of us on the team here, wants to do our part to make sure the service member is taken care of.”