Proposed rule change for burial at Arlington would exclude more veterans, service members

WASHINGTON — Active-duty service members who die from an incident that was not in support of combat operations would no longer be eligible for burial at Arlington National Cemetery under a new proposed rule posted Tuesday to the Federal Register.

The current burial eligibility states any service member who dies while on active duty can have an in-ground burial at the cemetery or be inurned in a columbarium. According to the Federal Register notice, recent trends show about 43 service members are buried annually at Arlington National Cemetery who died on active duty “neither as the result of armed conflict service nor from preparations or operations related to combat.”

The new proposed rule is part of several changes meant to extend the active use of the cemetery.

Arlington National Cemetery is expected to run out of space for new burials by 2055 despite two recent expansion projects. In fiscal year 2019, there were 3,691 new graves at the cemetery, according to the register notice. That year’s National Defense Authorization Act included instructions for the Army secretary to develop new criteria for burial at Arlington — restrictions that would allow it to remain an active cemetery for the next 150 years. The Department of the Army oversees the running of the cemetery.

https://www.stripes.com/news/veterans/proposed-rule-change-for-burial-at-arlington-would-exclude-more-veterans-service-members-1.645195