When I entered the Army, the Viet Nam war was just winding down. And so I went through the induction processing, which included filling out forms to pay my beneficiary $20,000, then went back home for a few days before getting orders to enter basic training.
And so when I went back home, my foster mother, God bless her, asked me who I put down to get the money in the event I came back in a plastic bag. When I told her that I put her down as the one to get all the loot, she became so dizzy at the thought of collecting on it that she had to ask me two more times just to be sure. I’d never seen her so happy; almost floating off the floor.
And so now I wonder what kind of cash (along with the tidy military funeral) can today’s vulture-type of foster mom expect in the event their kid fighting in Iraq has a bad day? My best guess is that they’re paying 'em way more than $20,000, yes?
" SGLI members serving in areas or operations designated by the Secretary of Defense as combat operations or zones of combat will have the premiums for $150,000 of coverage paid for by the Department of Defense. This is only while they are serving in designated areas or operations. Once they are no longer serving in such an area they will once again have to pay the premiums themselves. The Department of Defense will be paying a death gratuity of $150,000 for deaths that occurred in specified combat conditions on or after October 7, 2001, but before September 1, 2005, or were incurred in the theater of Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom. This gratuity is in addition to the existing Department of Defense death gratuity that is increasing from $12,420 to $100,000 for the same group of Servicemembers. Story Courtesy of the National Guard Bureau."