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Marine Corps MOS · Support

0408 Fatality Management Officer

Current service use not established

This code is listed in the directory. Inclusion alone does not confirm current service use.

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Overview

A Fatality Management Officer supervises, coordinates, and determines requirements for managing human remains in combat and noncombat environments. The officer oversees search and recovery, processing, tentative identification, storage, interment, disinterment, transportation, and mortuary affairs sites, including operations in joint, single service, and CBRN environments.

Minimum clearance: Secret

Core Skills

  • Human remains recovery and tentative identification
  • Interment and disinterment site operations
  • Human remains and personal effects transport
  • Mortuary collection operations in CBRN environments

Civilian Career Paths

Career associations are editorial assessments of the cited evidence, not an official crosswalk unless the evidence explicitly says so. O*NET supplies civilian occupation information, not proof of a military match. Related experience does not confer civilian qualifications. Tasks and tools below describe civilian work, not military training.

Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers

Supervising the recovery, processing, storage, interment, and transportation of human remains transfers directly to civilian remains-care operations.

How to prepare: Ask your target state's funeral-service licensing board to map your education and experience against its approved education and supervised-training route. An associate degree in funeral service or mortuary science is typical; most state licensing routes require age 21, accredited education, a board examination, and supervised training generally lasting one to three years, with separate licenses potentially needed across states.

What the civilian work involves
  • Oversee the preparation and care of the remains of people who have died.
  • Remove deceased remains from place of death.
Civilian tools and software (examples)
  • Belmar & Associates Mortware

Emergency Management Directors

Determining fatality-management requirements and coordinating mortuary collection and interment operations in joint and CBRN environments provides specialized experience relevant to disaster planning and response coordination.

How to prepare: Develop a civilian disaster fatality-management planning sample that identifies collection, storage, interment, and transportation resource needs. Director roles typically require a bachelor's degree and many years of relevant experience; some small jurisdictions accept a high school diploma with extensive emergency-management experience, and some states require certification after hiring.

What the civilian work involves
  • Consult with officials of local and area governments, schools, hospitals, and other institutions to determine their needs and capabilities in the event of a natural disaster or other emergency.
  • Develop and maintain liaisons with municipalities, county departments, and similar entities to facilitate plan development, response effort coordination, and exchanges of personnel and equipment.
  • Maintain and update all resource materials associated with emergency preparedness plans.
Civilian tools and software (examples)
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Word

Notes & Sources

Evidence for this guidance (5 documents)
  1. NAVMC 1200.1L (FY26, in force): MOS 0408

    [1] MOS 0408 section "a. Summary"; cached text line 2550; NAVMC 1200.1L signed 2025-03-07, in force until 2026-10-01

    Supports: Human remains recovery and tentative identification, Interment and disinterment site operations, Human remains and personal effects transport, Mortuary collection operations in CBRN environments, Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers (O*NET 39-4031.00), Emergency Management Directors (O*NET 11-9161.00)

  2. O*NET: Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers

    [2] O*NET 30.3 occupational data

    Supports: Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers (O*NET 39-4031.00)

  3. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Funeral Service Workers

    [3] How to Become; Education, Training and Licenses; professional funeral-service roles, not attendants; updated August 27, 2026

    Supports: Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers (O*NET 39-4031.00)

  4. O*NET: Emergency Management Directors

    [4] O*NET 30.3 occupational data

    Supports: Emergency Management Directors (O*NET 11-9161.00)

  5. Bureau of Labor Statistics: emergency management directors

    [5] How to Become One; retrieved 23 September 2026

    Supports: Emergency Management Directors (O*NET 11-9161.00)

Defense contractor jobs for 0408

Descriptions may be summarized for clarity. Verify all information with your branch career counselor or official military documentation before making career decisions.

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