killed in action
Enable an AI agent to recognise, assess and handle a person's recorded killed-in-action classification using the applicable casualty rules, evidence and authority.
Research draft, second pass
A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.
Researched by: Codex
Purpose and description
Enable an AI agent to recognise, assess and handle a person's recorded killed-in-action classification using the applicable casualty rules, evidence and authority.
It can be Assess whether available evidence supports a killed-in-action attribution under an explicitly identified casualty system.; Identify missing evidence needed to distinguish killed in action from missing in action, died of wounds or a non-hostile death.; Compare conflicting determinations while preserving their authorities, dates and original wording.; Prepare an evidence-linked classification review for an authorised casualty officer or equivalent decision-maker.; Generate a recipient-appropriate account of the recorded determination when disclosure is authorised.; Flag downstream records for review after a correction without independently changing benefits, legal status or operational records..
Distinguishing features
A killed-in-action classification requires an attributable claim of death; disappearance or loss of contact alone must remain distinguishable from that claim.
Death during deployment or in a combat area does not by itself establish killed in action: the record must address the hostile-action connection required by the governing rules.
The boundary with died of wounds must be evaluated under the named casualty system using relevant injury, survival, treatment and death evidence, rather than an assumed universal time threshold.
An official casualty determination must be distinguishable from a witness account, family statement, journalistic description or commemorative label.
Classification as killed in action must remain separate from judgments about the legality of the killing, combatant status, responsibility or heroism.
Scope
+ The person, casualty occurrence and service context to which the classification applies
+ Evidence of death and its attributed connection to hostile action
+ The governing definition and distinction from neighbouring casualty classifications
+ Provisional, confirmed, disputed and superseded classification determinations
+ Restrictions on communicating or acting on the classification
- The person's complete biography, service record or personnel administration
- Operational modelling of the battle, campaign or hostile organisation
- Clinical treatment and complete medical or forensic records
- Missing-person searches, recovery operations and remains identification workflows
- Benefits adjudication, inheritance and dependent entitlement calculations
- Memorial design and commemorative programme management
Characteristics
- Classified person
- Person reference with identity confidence and any unresolved identity alternatives Prevents a death or classification from being assigned to the wrong person.
- Casualty occurrence
- Referenced incident or bounded occurrence, with unresolved alternatives where necessary Connects the classification to the particular event rather than to service history generally.
- Death establishment
- Reported, presumed under a named process, confirmed, disputed or unknown; preserve source terminology Separates evidence that the person died from the subsequent classification of that death.
- Hostile-action connection
- Asserted, supported, disputed, not established or unknown, with a stated causal account Supports assessment of the defining relationship without treating location or deployment as proof.
- Injury-to-death interval
- Elapsed time in seconds, minutes, hours or days, expressed as an interval when uncertain; unknown permitted May inform the boundary with died of wounds, but cannot substitute for the applicable classification rule.
- Governing casualty system
- Named authority, rule source, version and effective period Makes the meaning of killed in action interpretable across organisations and periods.
- Classification determination
- Proposed modelling states: reported, provisional, confirmed, disputed, withdrawn or superseded; retain the authority's original status Prevents a reported label from silently becoming an authoritative determination.
- Determining authority
- Organisation or authorised role responsible for the determination, or unknown Identifies who can establish or revise the classification.
- Disclosure status
- Unknown, restricted, authorised for specified recipients or publicly released, with governing instructions Controls whether an agent may disclose or republish the classification.
Also called
Where this came from
wikidata · CC0 1.0
Drafted structure
Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 5 bundles · 10 layers · 10 findings · 20 questions.
Person and casualty occurrence Establishes whose casualty classification is being modelled and the occurrence to which it belongs.
A killed-in-action label is unsafe to interpret until the person and casualty occurrence are sufficiently distinguished.
Casualty identity
Links the classification to a person while preserving identity uncertainty.
Person attribution
Records the basis for associating the casualty report with this person, without equating reported identity with identification of remains.
- Which person does the killed-in-action report identify, and what evidence distinguishes them from others with similar names or identifiers? provenance
- Is uncertainty about the person's identity, the identification of remains, or both affecting this attribution? boundary
Occurrence and service context
Places the attributed death within a specific incident and relevant service relationship.
Casualty event link
Records the incident, approximate time and place, and service context relevant to applying the casualty rules.
- Which incident, time range and location are associated with the death, and which links remain uncertain? provenance
- What affiliation or service status must be established for the selected authority's killed-in-action category to apply? boundary
Death and hostile action Separates establishment of death from evidence that hostile action caused it.
Death, presence in a combat area and causation by hostile action are different claims requiring separate support.
Death evidence
Addresses whether and on what basis the person is considered dead.
Basis for death status
Records whether death is reported, established or presumed through a specified process and identifies unresolved contradictions.
- What evidence or authorised determination establishes death, and does it concern this identified person? provenance
- If the person was previously missing, what decision changed that status, and did it separately establish killed in action? boundary
Hostile causation
Examines the causal account connecting the death to hostile action.
Causal account and alternatives
Records the claimed fatal mechanism, its connection to hostile action and material competing explanations.
- What evidence connects the fatal injury or death to hostile action rather than merely to deployment or location? provenance
- Do friendly fire, accident, illness or mixed causes require a different assessment under the governing rules? boundary
Classification rules and boundaries Identifies the governing meaning of killed in action and tests its boundary with adjacent casualty categories.
An agent must not impose one organisation's or period's casualty terminology on another.
Applicable definition
Anchors the classification to a specific rule and its applicability.
Governing killed-in-action rule
Preserves the source definition, effective period and relevant exclusions without replacing them with a universal definition.
- Which authority and dated rule define killed in action for this person and occurrence? definition
- Does the recorded label reproduce that authority's category, or is it a translation, retrospective mapping or informal description? provenance
Killed in action versus died of wounds
Examines chronology and care milestones only as required by the applicable rule.
Fatal injury and survival boundary
Records relevant injury, survival, treatment and death evidence while preserving unknown times and ambiguous milestones.
- What is known about the injury time, evidence of survival, relevant care milestones and death time, including uncertainty? measurement
- Which of these facts determine the boundary with died of wounds under the cited rule, and are those facts established? boundary
Determination and revision Tracks who asserted or determined killed in action and how that determination changes.
Casualty reports can precede formal decisions, conflict across sources or be corrected after new evidence.
Authority and evidence
Distinguishes evidential reports from authorised classification decisions.
Attributed classification decision
Records the issuer, decision date, original wording, authority and supporting evidence of each material determination.
- Who assigned the killed-in-action label, when, and in what capacity? provenance
- Which sources independently support the determination, and which merely repeat an earlier report? provenance
Conflict and correction
Preserves contested and superseded determinations and identifies the route to review.
Classification history
Maintains the sequence of missing, death and casualty-classification decisions without treating them as interchangeable statuses.
- Which determinations conflict or supersede one another, and what evidence or authority explains each change? provenance
- What authorised review process should receive unresolved contradictions or newly discovered evidence? action
Communication and downstream use Defines how the classification may be communicated and used without exceeding its authority or evidential meaning.
A casualty classification can affect families and institutional records, so its availability does not itself authorise every disclosure or consequence.
Casualty disclosure
Records release instructions and any required notification dependencies.
Authorised recipient and wording
Determines who may receive the classification and how uncertainty or provisional status must be expressed.
- What release authority, recipient restrictions or notification prerequisites govern communication of this casualty determination? action
- What wording preserves the source's classification status and uncertainty without presenting an unconfirmed death as settled? action
Dependent records
Identifies permitted handoffs to records and processes that consume the classification.
Classification use and correction routing
Links affected personnel, memorial, statistical or entitlement processes while leaving their decisions to the relevant models and authorities.
- Which downstream processes may use this determination, and what additional decisions must they make independently? boundary
- If the classification changes, which dependent records require a correction notice or authorised review? action
What the second pass must settle
- Does an existing Vercy world model already own killed in action or the encompassing casualty-classification concept, requiring this registry entry to link to it?
- Which casualty authorities, jurisdictions and historical periods must this entry support, and how do their definitions and died-of-wounds boundaries differ?
- How do the applicable systems classify friendly fire, irregular forces, civilian personnel, captivity deaths and deaths with mixed or delayed causes?
- Under which applicable processes can a presumed death support a killed-in-action determination when remains or direct death evidence are unavailable?
- Which authority-specific rules govern correction, family notification, public release and reuse of killed-in-action determinations?