‘Holding Pattern' as Army Considers Eligibility Changes at Arlington National Cemetery

Thousands of veterans are waiting to find out if they'll have to make different plans for their final resting place.

Potential changes for who can be buried at Arlington National Cemetery were expected to be announced already, but that has not happened.

Between 25 and 30 burials happen each day at Arlington. Retired Navy Captain Lory Manning has witnessed many of the moving ceremonies in her career.

"It doesn't relieve people's grief, the family's grief, but they feel that their relative is appreciated, that his or her service meant something, which helps," she said.

And as she started planning for the future after serving more than 25 years, she made it clear to her family what she wanted.

"I've told them I want to go to Arlington Cemetery and full military honors," said Manning.

But that could be in jeopardy for Manning and potentially thousands of others because the national landmark is running out of space.

Congress ordered the Department of Defense in 2019 to ensure the cemetery could continue well into the future.

The Army, which runs Arlington, recommended changing who is eligible to be buried there, which could extend operation for another 150 years.

"The majority of those who are currently eligible would no longer be eligible," said retired Lt. Col. Mark Belinsky with the Military Officers Association of America.

Belinsky told the I-Team he continues to hear from worried veterans wondering if they need to make other plans.

"So, the potential changes really would reduce in-ground burial to a threshold of all the way down to Silver Star and above and Purple Heart,” he said. “So, a very small population compared to what is eligible today.”

A spokesperson for the Army told the I-Team there was no expected timeline of when new eligibility would be announced. An Arlington spokesperson said the proposed changes are still currently undergoing the "federal rulemaking process."

However, there is movement on another front.

"We always knew that there was a finite amount of space here at Arlington Cemetery,” said Col. Thomas Austin, the director of engineering at Arlington National Cemetery. 

He’s overseeing the Southern Expansion project underway right now which will extend the life of the cemetery.

"We're adding a total of 50 acres to the cemetery, which will yield about 80,000 new burial opportunities," he explained.

With current burial standards that would keep this cemetery, which means so much to veterans, open for burials until the early 2060s.

"Well, there is only one Arlington National Cemetery. It is a shrine. It's an icon for the nation. It's some of the most sacred ground we have in United States," Austin said.

The expansion project is expected to be completed by the end of 2027.

Belinsky said changing who's allowed to be buried there could impact the military at a time when there's already a recruitment challenge.

"Inevitably will have to move to a new location, and our proposal is to rather than reduce the benefit, but let's slowly transition to the next location without reducing the benefit,” he said.

That's why he supports another solution: identifying the next Arlington National Cemetery.

"What's encouraging is senior leaders are looking at other options to include transforming an existing VA run national cemetery into the next location that will afford full military honors," Belinsky said.

That would require action from Congress. Some potential locations tossed around include Quantico or somewhere on the West Coast.

"It's certainly not a victory, yet. I do feel that we are going to win this one day, maybe not, certainly not this year. We're out of time with this legislative session, but perhaps next year," said Belinksy.

A spokesperson for the Veterans’ Affairs Committee told the I-Team, "Essentially, everyone is still in a holding pattern. Army is still developing new regs for burials at Arlington that will reduces the annual number and extend its life.”

"I'd feel puzzled that I can't go there," said Manning, as she and other veterans wait.

She worries the message those new recommended changes might send to those who have served.

"Because of the combat requirements, no woman, including some of the nurses from Vietnam who served before 1992 would ever be eligible for burial there unless she became the president and the vice president," she said.

She said identifying a new location, before time runs out, makes sense.

"I think it's a better solution than to tell people who are dying now that they can't be at Arlington so we'll have room there for somebody who's not even going to be born for a hundred years," she said.

Reported by Ted Oberg; produced by Rick Yarborough; shot by Steve Jones, Jeff Piper and Carlos Olazagasti; and edited by Jeff Piper.