Is Army practicing burial of casualties in mass graves?

 Yes, the U.S. Army is actively practicing and testing temporary mass burial operations for the battlefield. [1]

The training marks a major shift after more than two decades of asymmetric counterinsurgency wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, where total air superiority allowed the military to rapidly fly fallen service members home. [1, 2, 3]

Key Details of the Army's Training Exercises

• Operation Dragon Covenant: In October 2026, combat engineers from the 20th Engineer Brigade, personnel from the 3rd Corps Sustainment Command, mortuary affairs specialists, preventive medicine teams, and Army chaplains conducted Phase II drills near Fort Liberty (formerly Fort Bragg), North Carolina. [1, 2]
• Scale and Speed: Under standard Army doctrine, a temporary interment plot consists of five parallel trenches designed to hold 100 bodies (10 lining each side of a trench). Using heavy equipment like D6 bulldozers and military excavators instead of traditional backhoes, crews completed a trench for 20 remains in about 75 minutes. The Army estimates an engineer company operating nonstop could temporarily inter up to 2,400 bodies every 24 hours. [1, 2]
• First Time Since Korea: The U.S. Army has not practiced or executed temporary mass battlefield burials on this scale since the Korean War (1950–1953). [1]
• Purpose and Preservation: The training is tailored for Large-Scale Combat Operations (LSCO) against a near-peer adversary (such as China or Russia) where contested airspace, anti-ship missiles, cyber attacks, or severed logistics lines could make immediate air evacuation of casualties impossible. [1, 2]
• Methodology: Rather than using real human remains, soldiers trained with simulated skeletal models and sealed water containers. The goal is to safely inter and systematically track remains so that forensic and Graves Registration teams can unearth, positively identify, and repatriate fallen personnel once the combat zone is secured. [1, 2, 3]
• Religious and Ethical Protocols: Because continuous 24-hour operations in a hot combat zone do not allow for individualized memorial services, military chaplains and religious specialists have coordinated with various faith groups to consecrate temporary burial sites collectively before remains are placed in the ground. [1]
• Next Phase: The Army is scheduled to continue the exercise with Phase III in Spring 2027, which will integrate security elements, medical facilities, and a dedicated mortuary affairs collection point. [1]
  
  https://www.cronista.com/en/today/2400-fallen-soldiers-in-24-hours-the-us-army-is-practicing-temporary-mass-burials-something-it-hasnt-needed-since-the-korean-war/