Some Helpful POW/MIAs Abbreviations and Terms To Know

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Please click below to read Doc's information.

Also click here for "List of Last Known Alive" from P.O.W. Network.

     While visiting my site or other people's POW/MIA web sites and reading the biographies for the POW/MIAs, you should be aware that ALL data in the statistical area of each biography is based on determination at the time of loss, including rank and status. Since then, some promotions may have occurred and ALL POW/MIAs have been declared legally dead (Presumptive Finding Of Death) or KIA/BNR (Killed in Action/Body not Recovered), including those "last known alive"!!!! These legal determinations/hearings occurred from one year after date of loss up through September, 1994, at which time the "last" P.O.W., Charles E. Shelton, was declared dead.
     If a South Korean POW can escape after 45 years of captivity in communist North Korea in August of 1998, it is very possible that some of our very own POW/MIAs are still alive and living in captivity wherever their captors have hidden them, especially since some of the men were at a relatively young age when they became MIA with some now being in their 50's and 60's if still alive. We owe it to them to do whatever we can to force and ensure that our government seeks their release and brings them back home where they belong. And for those POW/MIAs who were killed or died while in captivity and whose remains are yet to be recovered, we owe it to them to have their remains brought back home so that their families and friends may have a sense of closure in knowing that their loved ones have finally been brought back home.
     Please do whatever you can to help get our missing POW/MIAs back home where they belong! You can do this in numerous ways, starting by writing/e-mailing/faxing the President, the First Lady, the Vice-President and his wife, as well as your State Senators and Representatives. Be sure to ask them specific questions about what is being done to find and bring home our missing POW/MIAs and what they are doing to help.
     I am including some terms, definitions and terminology on this page that I have found at various online sites that have helped me to get a better knowledge of what these things mean when I've encountered them in a POW/MIA biography or a report. I hope these will be helpful to you as well.

Status Abbreviations & Definitions	Categories of Degrees of Information
Hostile Action Terminology	Military Code Of Conduct
U. S. Military Oath Of Allegiance

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Status Abbreviations and Definitions
AR - AWOL/Deserter Returnee	BB - Killed In Action, Body Not Recovered
BR - Body Recovered	EE - Escapee
KK - Died In Captivity, Remains Not Returned	KR - Died In Capitivity, Remains Returned
MM - Missing	NR - Remains Returned/Remains Recovered
PP - Prisoner	RR - Returnee
XX - Presumptive Finding Of Death

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Categories of Degrees of Information -
Enemy knowledge of POW/MIA:

Category 1, Confirmed knowledge:: A. Identified by the enemy by name; B. Identified by reliable sources. Received from releasee/escapee or; C. Reported by highly reliable intelligence sources; D. Identified through analysis of all -source intelligence.
Category 2, Suspect knowledge:: A. Involved in the same incidents as individuals in Category 1.; B. Lost in areas or under conditions that they may reasonably be expected to be known by the enemy.; C. Connected with an incident that was discussed but not identified by name in the enemy news media, or; D. Probably identified through analysis of all-source intelligence.
Category 3, Doubtful knowledge:: This category contains individuals whose loss incident such that it is doubtful that the enemy would have knowledge of the specific individuals. (e.g., aircrews lost over water or remote areas.)
Category 4, Unknown Knowledge:: A. Individuals whose time and place of incident are unknown (e.g., aircrews members downed at the unknown locations or ground personnel that were separated from their units at an unknown time or place), and; B. Who do not meet criteria of categories 1 through 3.
Category 5, Category unrelated to degree of enemy knowledge.: A. Individuals whose remains have been determined to be nonrecoverable as outlined in Department of the Army Technical Manual 10-286, January 1964, section 39.

Source: Data from Defense Intelligence Agency - January 20, 1982

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Terminology Related to Hostile Actions
Here are definitions of terms relating to hostile actions. The definitions are based on those established in the Department of Defense Instruction 1300.18 of December 27, 1991; Chapter 76 of Title 10, United States Code; and International Laws and Conventions. (Chapter 76 is commonly referred to as "The Missing Persons Act."

Missing. A casualty status applicable to a person who is not at his or her duty location due to apparent involuntary reasons and whose location may or may not be known. Chapter 10 of 37 U.S.C. (reference (f)) provides statutory guidance concerning missing members of the Military Services. Excluded are personnel who are in an AWOL, deserter, or dropped-from-rolls status.

The term "missing person" means--

a member of the armed forces on active duty who is in a missing status;
a civilian employee of the Department of Defense or an employee of a contractor of the Department of Defense who serves in direct support of, or accompanies, the armed forces in the field under orders and who is in a missing status.

Such term includes an unaccounted for person described in section 1509(b) of this title, under the circumstances specified in the last sentence of section 1509(a) of this title.

Chapter 76, Title 10, of the United States Code states: "The term "missing status" means the status of a missing person who is determined to be absent in a category of any of the following:

Beleaguered:: The casualty is a member of an organized element that has been surrounded by a hostile force to prevent escape of its members.
Besieged:: The casualty is a member of an organized element that has been surrounded by a hostile force for compelling it to surrender.
Captured:: The casualty has been seized as the result of action of an unfriendly military or paramilitary force in a, foreign country.
Detained:: The casualty is prevented from proceeding or is restrained in custody for alleged violation of international law or other reason claimed by the government or group under which the person is being held.
Interned:: The casualty is definitely known to have been taken into custody of a nonbelligerent foreign power as the result of and for reasons arising out of any armed conflict in which the Armed Forces of the United States are engaged.
Missing:: The casualty is not present at his or her duty location due to apparent involuntary reasons and whose location is unknown.
Missing in Action (MIA):: The casualty is a hostile casualty, other than the victim of a terrorist activity, who is not present at his or her duty location due to apparent involuntary reasons and whose location is unknown.

The following definitions are based on international laws and conventions:

Illegal Detainee:: A person is an illegal detainee if prevented from proceeding or restrained in custody for alleged violation of international law or other reason claimed by the organization or group under which the person is being held. Detention is illegal if the reason he is being detained is in violation of international law or international agreements.
Hostage:: A person held as a pledge that certain terms or agreements will be kept. (The taking of hostages is forbidden under the Geneva Conventions, 1949.)
Prisoner of War (POW):: A detained person as defined in Articles 4 and 5 of the Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War of August 12, 1949. In particular, one who, while engaged in combat under orders of his government, is captured by the armed forces of the enemy.
War Criminal:: A person is determined to be a war criminal if found guilty of violating international laws and conventions that make up the law of war.
UN and NATO Provisions:: United Nations (UN) protections, for UN members serving in a peacekeeping role, are provided for under Chapters 6 and 7 of the United Nations Charter. For example, Captain Scott O'Grady, USAF, was covered as a United Nations expert on mission. As such, the warring parties were required to return him immediately. If held, his status would have been "detainee."
If Captain O'Grady had not been returned immediately, his status would have been "illegal detainee." The protections provided to NATO forces in Bosnia are a result of a "status of forces" agreement signed by the three warring parties as part of the peace accords. NATO is not a party to the conflict. NATO forces are in-country at the request of the warring parties under a status of forces agreement established in the peace treaty negotiated by the United States. Since NATO is not a party to the conflict, NATO forces are not covered by the Geneva conventions pertaining to POWs. The Geneva conventions allow the warring parties in Bosnia to hold a service member of one of the other warring parties in a POW status until the end of hostilities. The status of forces agreement in Bosnia requires all parties to return immediately NATO forces members who come under their control, while according them the same level of treatment required for a POW under the Geneva conventions.

The following definitions are based on the DOD's usage of the following terms:

Remains:: This refers to an abstract concept that is deduced from circumstances and NOT to the actual physical remains. (Please be sure to read the MIA Mystery found within this web site for more information and decide for yourself if the DOD's definition meets the ordinary definition for remains.)
Accounted For:: This means that the DOD has gone through its stereotyped process that will allow files to be closed on a case. All reports of sightings of specific individuals by eyewitnesses have been "checked out" and either dismissed or investigated. It is much easier for the DOD and/or the U.S. Government to dismiss such sighting reports by discrediting any/all witnesses and/or by insisting that the reports meet specific bureaucratic criteria of which the parameters are impossible to meet rather than spending the time and money to actually check them out.

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Military Code Of Conduct

I am an American, fighting in the forces which guard my country and our way of life. I am prepared to give my life in their defense.

I will never surrender of my own free will. If in command, I will never surrender the members of my command while they still have the means to resist.

If I am captured I will continue to resist by all means available. I will make every effort to escape and to aid others to escape. I will accept neither parole nor special favors from the enemy.

If I become a prisoner of war, I will keep faith with my fellow prisoners. I will give no information or take part in any action which might be harmful to my comrades. If I am senior, I will take command. If not, I will obey the lawful orders of those appointed over me and will back them up in every way.

When questioned, should I become a prisoner of war, I am required to give name, rank, service number, and date of birth. I will evade answering further questions to the utmost of my ability. I will make no oral or written statements disloyal to my country and its allies or harmful to their cause.

I will never forget that I am an American, fighting for freedom, responsible for my actions, and dedicated to the principles which made my country free. I will trust in my God and in the United States of America.

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U.S. Military Oath Of AllegianceI, _________, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

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