32 C.F.R. § 553.36

Current through October 31, 2024

Section 553.36 - Definitions

As used in this subpart, the following terms have these meanings:

Active duty. Full-time duty in the active military service of the United States.

(1) This includes:

(i) Active Reserve component duty performed pursuant to title 10, United States Code.

(ii) Service as a cadet or midshipman currently on the rolls at the U.S. Military, U.S. Naval, U.S. Air Force, or U.S. Coast Guard Academies.

(iii) Active duty for operational support.

(2) This does not include:

(i) Full-time duty performed under title 32, United States Code.

(ii) Active duty for training, initial entry training, annual training duty, or inactive-duty training for members of the Reserve components.

Active duty for operational support (formerly active duty for special work). A tour of active duty for Reserve personnel authorized from military or Reserve personnel appropriations for work on Active component or Reserve component programs. The purpose of active duty for operational support is to provide the necessary skilled manpower assets to support existing or emerging requirements and may include training.

Active duty for training. A category of active duty used to provide structured individual and/or unit training, including on-the-job training, or educational courses to Reserve component members. The active duty for training category includes annual training, initial active duty for training, or any other training duty.

Annual training. The minimum period of active duty for training that Reserve members must perform each year to satisfy the training requirements associated with their Reserve component assignment.

Armed Forces. The U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Air Force and their Reserve components.

Army Post Cemeteries. Army Post Cemeteries consist of the 26 cemeteries on active Army installations, on Army reserve complexes, and on former Army installations or inactive posts. Army National Military Cemeteries are not included in Post Cemeteries. The West Point Cemetery is considered an Army Post Cemetery but has separate eligibility standards due to its unique stature. In addition to the 26 Post Cemeteries, there are 3 Apache Native American Prisoner of War Cemeteries on Fort Sill, Oklahoma and 5 World War II German and Italian Prisoner of War Cemeteries on four Army installations which are closed for interments but for which the Army bears responsibilities. Finally, there is the U.S. Army Disciplinary Barracks Cemetery at Fort Leavenworth used for interring the unclaimed remains of those who die while incarcerated by the United States Military. Unlike the other Army cemeteries which honor the Nation's veterans, this cemetery has unique eligibility standards due to the characterization of service of those criminally incarcerated.

Cemetery Responsible Official. An appointed official who serves as the primary point of contact and responsible official for all matters relating to the operation maintenance and administration of an Army cemetery. The appointee must be a U.S. Federal Government employee, DA civilian or military member and appointed on orders by the appropriate garrison commander or comparable official.

Child, minor child, permanently dependent child, unmarried adult child -

(1)Child.

(i) Natural child of a primarily eligible person, born in wedlock;

(ii) Natural child of a female primarily eligible person, born out of wedlock;

(iii) Natural child of a male primarily eligible person, who was born out of wedlock and:

(A) Has been acknowledged in a writing signed by the male primarily eligible person;

(B) Has been judicially determined to be the male primarily eligible person's child;

(C) Whom the male primarily eligible person has been judicially ordered to support; or

(D) Has been otherwise proven, by evidence satisfactory to the Executive Director, to be the child of the male primarily eligible person;

(iv) Adopted child of a primarily eligible person; or

(v) Stepchild who was part of the primarily eligible person's household at the time of death of the individual who is to be interred or inurned.

(2)Minor child. A child of the primarily eligible person who:

(i) Is unmarried;

(ii) Has no dependents; and

(iii) Is under the age of twenty-one years, or is under the age of twenty-three years and is taking a full-time course of instruction at an educational institution which the U.S. Department of Education acknowledges as an accredited educational institution.

(3)Permanently dependent child. A child of the primarily eligible person who:

(i) Is unmarried;

(ii) Has no dependents; and

(iii) Is permanently and fully dependent on one or both of the child's parents because of a physical or mental disability incurred before attaining the age of twenty-one years or before the age of twenty-three years while taking a full-time course of instruction at an educational institution which the U.S. Department of Education acknowledges as an accredited educational institution.

(4)Unmarried adult child. A child of the primarily eligible person who:

(i) Is unmarried;

(ii) Has no dependents; and

(iii) Has attained the age of twenty-one years.

Close relative. The spouse, parents, adult brothers and sisters, adult natural children, adult stepchildren, and adult adopted children of a decedent.

Derivatively eligible person. Any person who is entitled to interment or inurnment solely based on his or her relationship to a primarily eligible person, as set forth in §§ 553.43 through 553.45 .

Executive Director. The person charged by the Secretary of the Army to serve as the functional proponent for policies and procedures pertaining to the administration, operation, and maintenance of all military cemeteries under the jurisdiction of the Army.

Federal capital crime. An offense under Federal law for which a sentence of imprisonment for life or the death penalty may be imposed.

Former spouse. See spouse.

Government. The U.S. Government and its agencies and instrumentalities.

Inactive-duty training.

(1) Duty prescribed for members of the Reserve components by the Secretary concerned under 37 U.S.C. 206 or any other provision of law.

(2) Special additional duties authorized for members of the Reserve components by an authority designated by the Secretary concerned and performed by them on a voluntary basis in connection with the prescribed training or maintenance activities of the units to which they are assigned.

(3) In the case of a member of the Army National Guard or Air National Guard of any State, duty (other than full-time duty) under 32 U.S.C. 316 , 502 , 503 , 504 or 505 or the prior corresponding provisions of law.

(4) This term does not include:

(i) Work or study performed in connection with correspondence courses;

(ii) Attendance at an educational institution in an inactive status; or

(iii) Duty performed as a temporary member of the Coast Guard Reserve.

Interment. The ground burial of casketed or cremated human remains.

Inurnment. The placement of cremated human remains in a niche.

Media. Individuals and agencies that print, broadcast, or gather and transmit news, and their reporters, photographers, and employees.

Minor child. See child.

Niche. An above ground space constructed specifically for the placement of cremated human remains.

Parent. A natural parent, a stepparent, a parent by adoption, or a person who for a period of not less than one year stood in loco parentis, or was granted legal custody by a court decree or statutory provision.

Permanently dependent child. See child.

Person authorized to direct disposition. The person primarily entitled to direct disposition of human remains and who elects to exercise that entitlement. Determination of such entitlement shall be made in accordance with applicable law and regulations.

Personal representative. A person who has legal authority to act on behalf of another through applicable law, order, and regulation.

Primarily eligible person. Any person who is entitled to interment or inurnment based on his or her service as specified in §§ 553.39 through 553.41 .

Primary next of kin.

(1) In the absence of a valid written document from the decedent identifying the primary next of kin, the order of precedence for designating a decedent's primary next of kin is as follows:

(i) Spouse, even if a minor;

(ii) Children;

(iii) Parents;

(iv) Siblings, to include half-blood and those acquired through adoption;

(v) Grandparents; and

(vi) Other next of kin, in order of relationship to the decedent as determined by the laws of the decedent's state of domicile.

(2) Absent a court order or written document from the deceased, the precedence of next of kin with equal relationships to the decedent is governed by seniority (age), older having higher priority than younger. Equal relationship situations include those involving divorced parents of the decedent, children of the decedent, and siblings of the decedent.

Reserve component. The Army Reserve, the Navy Reserve, the Marine Corps Reserve, the Air Force Reserve, the Coast Guard Reserve, the Army National Guard of the United States, and the Air National Guard of the United States.

Spouse, former spouse, subsequently remarried spouse -

(1)Spouse. A person who is legally married to another person.

(2)Former spouse. A person who was legally married to another person at one time but was not legally married to that person at the time of one of their deaths.

(3)Subsequently remarried spouse. A derivatively eligible spouse who was married to the primarily eligible person at the time of the primarily eligible person's death and who subsequently remarried another person.

State capital crime. Under State law, the willful, deliberate, or premeditated unlawful killing of another human being for which a sentence of imprisonment for life or the death penalty may be imposed.

Subsequently recovered remains. Additional remains belonging to the decedent that are recovered or identified after the decedent's interment or inurnment.

Subsequently remarried spouse. See spouse.

Subversive activity. Actions constituting subversive activity are those defined in applicable provisions of Federal law.

Unmarried adult child. See child.

Veteran. A person who served in the U.S. Armed Forces and who was discharged or released under honorable conditions.

32 C.F.R. §553.36

84 FR 45406 , 9/30/2019