Fern Sumpter-Winbush (right), principal deputy director at the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, speaks at a Short Term Individual Augmentee sourcing conference at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, May 9, 2019. DPAA’s mission is to provide the fullest possible accounting for our missing personnel, their families and our nation. (DPAA photo by Mass Communication Specialist First Class Tyler Thompson)
DPAA Outreach and Communications
JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM (Hawaii) -- The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, or DPAA, held a Short Term Individual Augmentee conference on Thursday, May 9, here, to source active duty service members’ assistance in returning missing Americans from past conflicts to their families.
To date, there are over 82,000 service members still missing from past conflicts. DPAA's mission is to provide the fullest possible accounting of missing personnel to their families and the nation a mission that is heavily dependent on augmentees.
DPAA conducts the conference annually to help synchronize U.S. Indo-Pacific Command components and other force provider representatives with DPAA’s support requirements. Attending the conference were Department of Defense leaders representing each branch of military service and other Department of Defense agencies.
The Short Term Individual Augmentee conference’s goal is to identify and fill over 600 personnel vacancies for missions across the Indo-Pacific region.
“We are very grateful for the continued support,” said Fern Sumpter-Winbush, principal deputy director of DPAA. “At the end of the day it’s about hopefully being able to make a phone call to a family and telling them ‘We’re bringing your loved one home.”
For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing American service members, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dodpaa, or call (703) 699-1420/1169.