Wireless upgrades support cemetery services for Veteran loved ones

When family and friends visit a VA cemetery, they might say a prayer, leave flowers to pay respects or post a tribute to the Veterans Legacy Memorial site. They may also rely on Global Positioning System (GPS) capabilities on their mobile phones to find a headstone or gravesite.

So that families and loved ones can easily locate gravesites and headstones, VA needs to ensure behind the scenes that its national gravesite locator and find a cemetery feature—on which VA staff and Veteran families rely—is always up-to-date and easily accessible.

To this end, VA’s Office of Information and Technology and VA’s National Cemetery Administration are refreshing and expanding wireless capabilities across all NCA cemeteries and staff offices.

The wireless upgrades enable NCA staff to conveniently and remotely collect and upload information, such as gravesite locator and interment data, directly into VA systems. This ensures the private data of Veterans interred at VA national cemeteries is accessed more reliably and faster with greater security controls and protection.

This project is providing Mobile standard device 1 (SD1) services in NCA and maintenance buildings. SD1 assists in transferring data collected by GPS and Geographic Information System (GIS) equipment to the cloud, where visitors can reliably and more efficiently locate their loved one when using the gravesite locator via their cell phones, before or during visits.

Infrastructure modernization

The wireless expansion is a component of VA’s major infrastructure modernization efforts in progress across NCA cemeteries and staff offices, which also include updating telephone systems and data networks. VA initiated the multi-year effort in fiscal year (FY) 2021 with upgrades to 21 sites. The OIT team continues to lead the effort to install wireless upgrades at 33 NCA sites in FY 2022 and plans to complete wireless upgrades at the remaining NCA sites in FY 2023.

“The updated IT infrastructure at Great Lakes National Cemetery gives staff the ability to more quickly and efficiently serve our Veteran community by allowing us to be able to connect to our Government devices via wireless with a more accurate reading for GIS/GPS devices,” said Srey M. Austin, the cemetery’s director. “This gives us better accountability of our burial tracking system. This update was needed and everyone benefits from it.”

Coverage priority

VA is prioritizing cemeteries and sites without cellular coverage or limited wireless first, followed by the remaining sites to ensure all NCA cemeteries and staff offices comply with OIT infrastructure and telecommunication standards, as well as industry protocols and best practices.

This wireless expansion emphasizes VA’s commitment to Veterans and how VA is looking to the future by making improvements now. The multi-faceted initiatives sync with Secretary McDonough’s Strategic Goals and Priorities, and are already reaping meaningful benefits. NCA staff located in rural locales formerly had unreliable internet, but now are experiencing faster access and dependable connectivity.

The modernization also fully supports NCA’s Strategic Goals to ensure “Stakeholders will place greater trust in NCA based on enhanced accountability” and “Stakeholders will be served more efficiently and effectively based on NCA’s internal capacity.” Ultimately, the modernization is a victory for Veterans, their families and VA staff by providing exceptional experiences across NCA.

Learn about VA’s burial benefits and memorial services at VA national cemeteries by visiting VA Burial Benefits and Memorial Items.