Errr she's alive.
Let's analyze the sentence I posted.
"...my mum's in the service and recently served a tour in Iraq."
If my mum was dead, she wouldn't still be in the service, or atleast I wouldn't phrase it that way.
If she served (past tense) a tour in Iraq, that would mean she finished the whole tour. If she had died half way, I would have said she perished during her tour in Iraq...
