Autopsies
Prior to 2003, the United States military would conduct a basic autopsy on a dead
soldier. An autopsy is a forensic examination of a dead body conducted to
determine why or how a person died. The family of each soldier wants to know
how their son or daughter died while fighting for their country. This involved
cutting open a deceased soldier’s body and looking for bullet fragments, shrapnel
from land mines or other injuries. Since there are so many ways to die, it often
takes many hours for a coroner to discover the cause of death. Autopsies are
necessary in potential murder cases. But in the military, the cause of death is
almost always due to enemy fire.