SO A DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AGENCY IS WORKING TO FIND, RECOVER, IDENTIFY AND RETURN HOME. AMERICANS STILL MISSING FROM PAST WARS AND CONFLICTS. THIS IS SOMETHING IMPACTING FAMILIES GOING ALL THE WAY BACK TO WORLD WAR TWO. TALK ALL ABOUT THAT MISSION. IS MISS SUMTER WINBUSH AND DOCTOR FRANKLIN. DAMON, THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR TALKING TO US. REALLY APPRECIATE IT. SO FOR OUR VIEWERS OUT THERE, CAN YOU TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU ALL ARE DOING TODAY RIGHT HERE IN NEW ORLEANS? YES. THANK YOU, DARRYL, AND THANK YOU FOR HAVING US ON SATURDAY, WE HAVE THE AWESOME OPPORTUNITY TO MEET WITH FAMILIES OF MISSING SERVICEMEN. AND ON SATURDAY AT THE MARRIOTT HERE IN NEW ORLEANS, 270 PLUS FAMILY MEMBERS ARE GOING TO MEET US THERE. AND WE’RE GOING TO TALK ABOUT WHAT THE AGENCY DOES. BUT THEN FOR MANY OF THEM, WE WILL SIT DOWN AND HAVE A CONVERSATION ABOUT THEIR LOVED ONES LOSS, WHAT WE’RE DOING ABOUT THEIR CASE, WHAT INFORMATION WE KNOW, AND THEN SOMETIMES, MOST IMPORTANTLY, WHAT WE DON’T KNOW. RIGHT. BECAUSE NOT EVERYONE IS RECOVERABLE, UNFORTUNATELY. AND YOU SAID ABOUT 250 FAMILIES, 270, 270 FAMILIES. DECATUR FRANKLIN JUST DOING TALKING TO THESE FAMILIES AND JUST HEARING THEIR STORIES. I MEAN, KIND OF TALK ABOUT THIS PROCESS FOR YOU AND AND OVERALL YOUR FEELINGS GOING INTO THIS PROCESS WITH THESE FAMILIES LOOKING FOR SOME TYPE OF CLOSURE. THAT’S A GREAT QUESTION. YOU KNOW, BECAUSE I RUN THE LAB IN NEBRASKA, ONE OF OUR TWO LABORATORIES, OTHER IN HAWAII, THE OTHER IN NEBRASKA, AND WE’RE OFTEN IN THE LAB. WE’RE STUCK BEHIND THE THE CURTAIN, SO TO SPEAK, ON THE LAB FLOOR, AT THE BENCH, DOING DOING THE HARD WORK THAT YOU DON’T REALLY GET TO SEE VERY MUCH. AND WHEN WE COME TO THESE EVENTS AND HAVE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO MEET WITH THE FAMILIES, IT REALLY BRINGS IT HOME. IT IF YOU EVER THOUGHT, YOU KNOW, LIKE YOU’RE HAVING A BAD DAY, COME TO ONE OF THESE AND TALK TO THE FAMILIES AND SEE HOW HOW YOUR SERVICE IS IMPACTING THE LIVES OF OTHERS. AND IT’S A ABSOLUTELY REMARKABLE OPPORTUNITY. AND YOU ALL HAVE MADE A LOT OF A LOT OF PROGRESS. RIGHT. SO WE KNOW THERE’S BEEN A BIG PROGRESS IN REGARDS TO THE VIETNAM WAR AND HELPING THOSE FAMILIES GET CLOSURE. SO TALK ABOUT THOSE ADVANCES IN THAT AND HOW THAT’S GOING. OH, ABSOLUTELY. SO I’LL TOUCH ON SORT OF THE FAMILY RELATION PIECE AND ACCOUNTINGS. AND THEN DOCTOR DAMON CAN TALK ABOUT THE SCIENCE OF IT. SO, YOU KNOW, DPR WAS ESTABLISHED IN 2015 AND IT WAS A TROUBLING TIME. NOT A LOT OF IDENTIFICATIONS HAD BEEN MADE PRIOR TO THAT. HOWEVER, WHEN WE CAME ON BOARD, WE WERE ESTABLISHED BY THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF ACCOUNTINGS TO COMMUNICATE BETTER WITH THE FAMILIES. THAT WASN’T BEING DONE VERY WELL, BUT THE ALSO TO BUILD IN SOME OF THE OTHER BUSINESS PROCESSES FOR THE ORGANIZATION. SO NOW, TEN YEARS LATER, OVER THE LAST TEN YEARS, WE’VE IDENTIFIED OVER 2100 INDIVIDUALS, WHICH IS PRETTY AMAZING. SO THAT’S OVER 200 A YEAR, WHICH IS SIGNIFICANT FOR US. AND SO OVER THESE YEARS, WE’VE HAD TO BUILD THE CAPABILITY AND CAPACITY IN ORDER TO GET THERE. EVERYTHING STARTS WITH A. RESEARCH, RIGHT? WITH A HISTORIAN, RESEARCHER OR SOME TYPE OF ANALYST THAT IS DOING THE DEEP DIVE RESEARCH ABOUT THAT INDIVIDUAL’S LOSS. BEFORE WE’RE EVER ABLE TO GO INTO A COUNTRY, FOREIGN COUNTRY, AND ACTUALLY RECOVER THE REMAINS AND REALLY QUICKLY, DOCTOR FRANKLIN REAL FAST FROM YOU. THE ADVANCES IN TECHNOLOGY TO GET THESE FAMILIES CLOSURES. I MEAN, HOW HAS THAT BEEN OVER THE PAST, I WOULD SAY FIVE YEARS OR SO. IT’S OUR SCIENCE EVOLVES. IT’S NOT STAGNANT. RIGHT. WHAT WE WERE DOING FIVE YEARS, EVEN JUST TWO YEARS AGO WAS NOT THE SAME. WHAT WE’RE DOING TODAY. THE HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTING, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, AND THE WORK THAT WE’RE DOING IN RESEARCH TO BRING THAT INTO OUR LABORATORY SPACE, AS WELL AS OUR PARTNERS AT THE ARMED FORCES DNA IDENTIFICATION LABORATORY, THEIR ABILITY TO TO PARTNER WITH INDUSTRY AND COME UP WITH A BRAND NEW TECHNIQUE TO WORK WITH OUR OLD COMPROMISED BONES THAT WE’RE FINDING OUT THERE, WHERE THE DNA IS BROKEN APART IN SMALL FRAGMENTS, THEY’RE ABLE TO LOOK ACROSS THE ENTIRE NUCLEAR GENOME AND COME UP WITH IDENTIFICATIONS WHERE THE LIKELIHOOD IS IN THE BILLIONS AND TRILLIONS THAT THESE REMAINS THAT WE RECOVER ARE THIS PERSON AND NOT ANYBODY ELSE. IT’S TRULY REMARKABLE. THE WORK YOU’RE DOING. I’M SPEECHLESS BECAUSE THE WORK THAT YOU’RE DOING FOR THESE FAMILIES WHO’VE BEEN AFFECTED HAS JUST BEEN ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. SO THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR DOING THE LORD’S WORK AND HELPING THESE FAMILIES FIND CLOSURE. THANK YOU SO MUCH AND BEST OF LUCK THIS WEEKEND TO YOU ALL. THANK YOU SO MUCH. THANK YO