Title 10, Armed ForcesRelease 119-102
§655 Designation of Persons Having Interest in Status of a Missing Member
Title 10 › Subtitle A — General Military Law › PART II — PERSONNEL › CHAPTER 37 — GENERAL SERVICE REQUIREMENTS › § 655
Summary
When someone joins the armed forces, the Secretary must get a written list of people, not the member’s closest relative or immediate family, who should be told the member’s whereabouts and status if those matters are investigated under chapter 76. The Secretary must have the member confirm or change the list regularly and before deployments. Members may change it in writing at any time.
Full Legal Text
Title 10, §655
Armed Forces, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)The Secretary concerned shall, upon the enlistment or appointment of a person in the armed forces, require that the person specify in writing the person or persons, if any, other than that person’s primary next of kin or immediate family, to whom information on the whereabouts and status of the member shall be provided if such whereabouts and status are investigated under chapter 76 of this title. The Secretary shall periodically, and whenever the member is deployed as part of a contingency operation or in other circumstances specified by the Secretary, require that such designation be reconfirmed, or modified, by the member.
(b)The Secretary concerned shall, upon the request of a member, permit the member to revise the person or persons specified by the member under subsection (a) at any time. Any such revision shall be in writing.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
10 U.S.C. § 655
Title 10, Armed Forces
Last Updated
Aug 21, 2026
Release point: 119-102