Sole Survivor Policy The Sole Survivor Policy or DoD Directive 1315 . 15 " Special Separation Policies for Survivorship " describes a set of regulations in the U . S . military that are designed to protect members of a family from the draft or from combat duty if they have already lost family members in military service . History . The need for the regulations first caught public attention after the five Sullivan brothers were all killed when the USS " Juneau " ( CL - 52 ) was sunk during World War II , and was enacted as law in 1948 . No peacetime restriction was in place until 1964 during the Vietnam War ; in 1971 , Congress amended the law to include not only the sole surviving son or daughter but also any son or daughter who had a combat related death in the family . Since then , each branch of the military has made its own policies with regard to separating immediate family members . Examples . Before the Sole Survivor Policy was officially implemented in 1948 , there were several occasions when sole survivors were excused from active service . In World War II the Borgstrom brothers , Elmer , Clyde and twins Rolon and Rulon , were killed within a few months of each other in 1944 . Their parents then petitioned for their son Boyd , who was also on active duty , to be released from service . Their sixth son , Elton , who had not yet reached conscription age was exempted from military service . The three Butehorn Brothers of Bethpage , NY , Charles , Joseph and Henry , all went off to fight during World War II . After Charles was killed in action in France in 1944 and Joseph was killed in action in the Pacific in 1945 , Henry , who was serving with the Army Air Forces in Italy , was ordered home by the War Department . The VFW post in Bethpage , NY is named after their sacrifice . In the case of the Niland brothers , U . S . intelligence believed that all but one of four siblings were killed in action . It was later discovered that the eldest brother , Technical Sergeant Edward Niland , of the U . S . Army Air Forces , had been held in a prisoner of war camp in Burma . Both the Borgstrom and Butehorn tragedies occurred before the Sole Survivor Policy was put into effect in 1948 , but they , along with the deaths of all of the Sullivan brothers in 1942 , helped lead to it . ( The film " Saving Private Ryan " , directed by Steven Spielberg , was loosely based on the Niland brothers ' story . ) Jason and Nathan Hubbard joined the army after their brother Jared had died in Iraq in 2004 . In 2007 , Nathan died in a helicopter crash . Military officials ordered Jason home shortly after . A recent case occurred in 2011 . Jeremy , Beau and Ben Wise served in active combat roles in the Afghan War . Jeremy , a former Navy SEAL , was at a CIA base as a military contractor and was killed when a suicide bomb er attacked the base . Later in 2011 , Ben died of injuries while at a hospital . Beau was taken out of active military service shortly afterwards . Regulations . It is widely thought that this policy protects " only sons " , " the last son to carry the family name " , and " sole surviving sons " of a family from them are protected from draft only during peacetime . In times of war or national emergency as declared by Congress , this provision does not apply to any of the above . Also , this provision is voluntary , meaning that the member wishing to be sent home has to apply for the policy and get the application approved . Furthermore , it does not apply strictly to the sole surviving son but also to all surviving sons . Members of the Armed Forces that are not eligible for Department of Defense Directive 1315 . 15 , " Special Separation Policies for Survivorship " include those that currently have court - martial charges pending against them or those that have been convicted by court - martial . This policy does not protect children without siblings . Furthermore , commissioned officers and warrant officers are not eligible for this policy either . If a member of the Armed Forces re - enlists or voluntarily extends their active duty beyond the requirement after having been notified of a death in the family , that member becomes automatically ineligible as well .