2006 VFW Magazine - Veterans of Foreign Wars

GI Death and Life Insurance
Benefits More Equitable
Original payments were an insult in light of what was
being paid to the families of Sept. 11 victims.
When the dust of the Sept.
11, 2001, terrorist attacks
had settled, the families of
those killed were compensated
generously by the government’s
victim compensation fund: Some
$6 billion was distributed among the
nearly 3,000 families of those killed. The
average payment per family was $2.1
million; the highest was $7.1 million.
Yet the compensation to the families
of the men and women who were killed
fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan—the
latter in retaliation for those attacks—
was initially paltry in comparison.
As Aseneth Blackwell, then president
of the Gold Star Wives of America,
said, “When a serviceman gives his life
for his country, his family should be
taken care of.”
For years, the “death gratuity”—paid
to the survivors of a GI killed by hostile
action, in training for combat or while
performing hazardous duty—was only
$6,000. The Military Family Tax Relief
Act of 2003 doubled it to $12,000, and
made it tax-free and retroactive to Sept.
11, 2001. That amount didn’t come
close to what those families deserved.
In addition, the maximum coverage
available through the Servicemembers
Group Life Insurance (SGLI) program
was just $250,000, but only if the member
opted to pay monthly premiums.
Families, veterans groups and various
media outlets were justifiably outraged.
A concerted campaign was orchestrated
by Shannon Hanson
Joshua Menusa holds a photo of his father,
Marine Gunnery Sgt. Joseph Menusa, who
was killed in an ambush on March 27, 2003,
the day after his battalion arrived in Iraq. At
the time of Menusa’s death, his family
received only $6,000 in a “death gratuity.”
NICK UT / AP WIDE WORLD PHOTOS
to right this wrong.
VFW vigorously sought increases in
these entitlements. Res. 642 called for a
$100,000 death gratuity and an SGLI
maximum of no less than $500,000.
“No amount of money will ever
replace a lost loved one,” an official
VFW statement said. “But the increases
will greatly assist surviving family members
who must now create new lives.”
On May 11, 2005, P.L. 109-13, the
Emergency Supplemental Appropriations
Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror
and Tsunami Relief Act of 2005 was
passed, temporarily increasing the gratuity
to $100,000 and increasing SGLI coverage
to $400,000, effective Sept. 1, 2005.
Making the SGLI change permanent
was P.L. 109-80, the Servicemembers’
Group Life Insurance Enhancement Act
of 2005, signed Sept. 30, 2005. The act
also boosted the incremental increases
of the life insurance program from
$10,000 to $50,000.
Finally, the 2006 National Defense
Authorization Act, signed on Jan. 6,
made the death gratuity increase permanent,
and also granted the first
$150,000 in government life insurance
free for troops serving in the war zones.
In addition, it created a $430 monthly
stipend for hospitalized, active-duty
troops recovering from combat-related
injuries or illnesses, to offset the loss of
war-zone-related combat pays or
allowances.
Imminent-Danger Pay was increased
on April 16, 2003, from $150 to $225 per
month, as was the family separation
allowance, from $100 to $250 under P.L.
108-11. All of these allowance increases
were extended through the end of operations
in Afghanistan and Iraq, and were
made permanent by the 2005 National
Defense Authorization Act.
Veterans returning from these two
theaters of war still face many readjustment
difficulties, as do their families.
But in the case of death and insurance
benefits, Congress has heeded VFW’s
call and done right by the troops. ✪
© 2006 VFW Magazine • WWW.VFW.ORG • 19