Posted on: Monday, January 17, 2005

MILITARY UPDATE

By Tom Philpott

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and Defense Department officials have negotiated a proposed increase in military death benefits that would boost total payments to survivors of service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan by as much as $237,580.

The higher payments would be made retroactive to the start of the war in Afghanistan, in the fall of 2001, to help families who already have lost loved ones in combat.

The proposal has two main features. The designated beneficiaries or next of kin of service members killed in war would receive an additional payment of $150,000 under the Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance, whether or not they had SGLI coverage.

Also, the lump-sum military death gratuity, now $12,420, would be raised to $100,000, but only for deaths resulting from combat.

"The American people want to know that a soldier who gives his life for his country is generously taken care of. It's important ... as a statement of our support for those who go into harm's way," Sessions told Military Update.

A Sessions aide said the bill would raise military death benefits nearer to amounts typically paid to families of law-enforcement personnel and firefighters killed in the line of duty.

Another consideration, he said, was the stark disparity in compensation paid to families of service members who die fighting terrorists and an average award of $1.7 million that the government has provided to families who lost loved ones on Sept 11.

Sessions said he expects the Bush administration to request the necessary money — $460 million the first year — in the fiscal 2006 defense budget that Bush will send to Capitol Hill by early February.

Aides said the first-year costs are high because of the retroactive payments of bigger death gratuities and the added SGLI payouts to the families of 1,500 service members who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Maximum SGLI coverage would be raised to $400,000 from $250,000 for all service members willing to pay higher premiums. At current rates, monthly premiums for the added $150,000 in coverage would be $9.75. The $400,000 maximum coverage would cost $26 a month, and would drop if members serve in a combat area.

Sessions, who serves on the Armed Services Committee, began working on death benefit legislation almost two years ago after a soldier from Alabama who had turned down SGLI was among the first killed in Iraq. His family, and those of other members who died in recent combat and received a $12,000 death gratuity, would receive an additional $88,000. They also would be in line for an additional $150,000 payout under SGLI.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., is said to favor the proposal.

"That's important," said Sessions, "because he can help us move it rapidly."

Death benefit legislation is also expected to be approved in the House.

To comment, contact Military Update at P.O. Box 231111, Centreville, VA, 20120-1111; milupdate@aol.com; or www.militaryupdate.com.