I was pretty pleased to see this story the other day. 

 
The Army needs to re-examine how it trains casualty assistance officers and who they pick for the job, the service’s top general said yesterday.
“I realize that there’s some people who are just really good at being casualty assistance officers, and there’s some that aren’t,” said Gen. Raymond Odierno, the Army’s chief of staff. “We try to figure out the right people to assign to these jobs.”

Odierno said the Army is collecting information from survivor families on what they do and do not like about their assigned CAO. Trainers and commanders can then use that information to filter out who is tasked with the duty while shaping how they are trained, he said.

I have seen great and terrible CAOs first hand. It is about time that the Army takes some time and effort into selecting who should hold this tough but honored duty. I am not sure about how it is done in the Active Duty forces today but in the National Guard the only requirement is to be in the rank of E7 or above. Yep, be able to walk, talk, breathe and be an E7 or above and you are a qualified to be a CAO. 

Of course they sit in a training class, but it is not a selection process. It is just a training class that all will pass. If anyone should be hand-picked it should be reserve component CAOs. I say that because at least many active duty CAOs who may be near a base can usually lean on and count on the Mortuary affairs team on the base and other knowledgeable people on or around the base. 

CAOs for Reserve or National Guard families or operating in areas away from a base have a guide book and some phone numbers but really have to be able to work with local civilians. The inter-personal and communication capabilities of that person need to be good, if not great. They have to deal with local police departments, funeral homes, churches, morticians, etc., etc. Not to mention that all CAOs really have to posses excellent inter-personal skills in dealing with the family alone. 

It is a tough job that nobody wants to do, but needs to be done. In 2004 when one of my soldiers was killed in Iraq, my senior E7 and full-time readiness NCONon-Commissioned Officer was selected to be the CAO for the family. I remember when he was made to go through the training, and him saying he really didn’t want to go and never wanted to have to perform that duty. However when he was selected to assist the family of my fallen soldier, he stepped up and gave it 110% and set the bar high on how the job should be performed.

He performed with excellence and was even welcomed into the family’s inner circle of trust. His communication skills, attention to detail, persistence and dedication to the job and the family answers calls and requests any time of the day or night made a huge difference on a very tough time for the family. When it was all said and done, he was very proud and honored to have been selected and do the job he did. 

I have also seen just the opposite happen when another soldier of mine fell in Iraq a couple of years later. I won’t go into details here, but trust me it was the opposite effect. In fact when that E7 was selected to be the CAO, I knew he did not have what it took to fill that role. I knew it was a mistake and unfortunately I was correct. 

So that is the reason why I am glad to see GEN Odierno take a hard look at how they make these critical selections.

To read the entire story, check out http://www.military.com/news/article/odierno-wants-fresh-look-at-cao-assignments.html