Military death benefit in early 2000?

[Trooperdan]

At the Democratic convention one of the speakers was the wife of a helicopter pilot that died in Iraq. She said her death benefit was only 12,000 and credited Hillary with getting the benefit raised later.
I retired in 1984 but I seem to remember being able to opt in for either $100,000 or $150,000 at a cost. Am I wrong or was that an option at the time and her husband likely just hadn't opted in for the addition benefit?

 

[Bkreutz]

And you believed what a speaker at the DNC said???

 

[Targets Guy]

I can't swear to it but I think by 2000 it had broken the 100K mark. We had 10,000 in Vietnam.

 

[arjay]

And you believed what a speaker at the DNC said???

or we can go with a pie in the sky salesman that promises to take us back to the fifties [emoji23][emoji14]

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

My oldest son was Army from 98 to 05, and my second son was USMC from 99 to 03. They didn't ever talk about what was the basic benefit, they both bought upgraded benefits through their associations. I'm thinking 400K , with their siblings as beneficiaries, until they married.

As a civilian my employer's benefit for survivors was 5K (50K if we died at work), so we bought our own insurance just like our fathers did.

Ivan

 

[Retired LTC USAR]

At some point in time, the benefit was increased to 400,000.

 

[S42N8]

The speaker was Jamie Dorff; her husband, CWO3 Patrick Dorff, died in Iraq Jan 25, 2004, in a search and rescue helicopter mishap (story at Army Chief Warrant Officer 3 Patrick D. Dorff | Military Times).

At that time, the death gratuity was $12000. The gratuity is a one-time, tax free payment; it is separate from the Servicemembers Group Life Insurance coverage or other coverage. The gratuity level was raised from $6K to $12K in fiscal year 2004; it was raised to the $100K level in 2005 for deaths in a combat zone, while the $12K limit remained for deaths not related to war or war-related events (good précis of Public Law 109-13 at http://www.dtic.mil/get-tr-doc/pdf?AD=ADA442861) The $100K benefit in PL 109-13 was made retroactive to Oct 7, 2001. Senator Clinton was one of many co-sponsors.

Jamie Dorff's remarks are interesting, in that they imply the $12K was all that was received: "...before Hillary took office, the families of fallen soldiers received $12,000." Chief Dorff was eligible for SGLI, and could have carried additional coverage if desired...as many of us did.

(Text at Remarks as Prepared for Delivery by Jamie Dorff)

Beyond that, the story is accurate in other respects.

 

[Trooperdan]

S42N8, thank you for a most informative reply!