I recognize this is a rather off-the-wall question, but what the hey.
There is a National Guard base just north of where I live. Base staff park their personal vehicles on the base when they are on duty. Noticing this, I began to think about what would happen if the base ever came under attack for any reason; say, some sort of Red Dawn scenario. In such a case, if the soldiers’ cars were damaged or destroyed as a result of enemy action, would there be any means of compensation for their losses? As I recall, conventional insurance policies usually exclude losses caused by war or insurrection.
I realize that this is a fairly remote possibility, and that in any event the military personnel are probably much more concerned about their lives than their property. Nevertheless, knowing that the military generally has contingencies for just about every conceivable event, I thought I’d ask: is there a system set up for re-imbursement by the government, or through insurance, for this sort of eventuality?
No. The military won’t even cover losses to personal property caused by their own action (or failure to act).
My brother was a sailor on the carrier USS Ranger in the early 1980’s, when a fire broke out due to improper handling of fuel. A half-dozen crew were killed, and a couple dozen injured. My brother was uninjured, but lost a fair amount of personal property in the fire. He was told that would not be replaced by the Navy, it was the “spoils of war” (which isn’t even a proper application of that phrase!). Possibly, an exception might be considered, if he could provide detailed documentation, including receipts for all his property. Surprisingly, he’d actually kept most of the receipts – they were stored away, in the area destroyed by the fire!
Giving it some more thought, if a bunch of Reservist’s cars got destroyed I am positive some caring attorney would file a class action for them. The leach… Er I mean attorney would get $25 million and each guard member would receive a voucher for $500 towards a new car.
It’s probably a reflection of the mindset of “If the Army wanted you to have a wife, it would’ve issued you one.” Personal property is not something the military thinks you need, since it already provides you with room, board, clothing, weapon and ammo. So if your car, or your collection of priceless Steuben crystal, is destroyed by enemy action, you’re SOL.
