There is a fight in Washington over death benefits available to soldiers.  The good news (such as it is for such a topic) is that everyone is trying to out-do each other this time.  Late last month, some Senators proposed increasing the basic death benefit which is automatically paid to the family of a soldier.  Then Bush and the Pentagon, supporting that measure, proposed also increasing amount of available life insurance coverage  AND making these changes retroactive to any soldier killed in Iraq or Afghanistan since October 2001.  Now, lawmakers are arguing that such a change should extend to ALL troops, not just those serving in a designated combat zone.  The full text of the story, from the USAToday, is here, but here are some of the important points:

• The current death benefit, paid tax-free automatically to a serviceman's family is $12,420.
• The current insurance available to servicemen via SGLI (official military life insurance) is currently a maximum of $250,000
• Proposed legislation would increase the death benefit to $100,000 and life insurance to $400,000

Of course, there are several versions of this bill currently being discussed, so the exact details are still a little sketchy, but overall it seems like a positive change.

Much of the impetus for this change has come from the outcry over the disparity between treatment of military survivors and the families of the World Trade Center victims.  You see, the government paid out an average of $2.1 million to every family who lost a member to the 9/11 attacks.  That is on top of other charitable funds and life insurance money that they recieved.  And while I cannot disagree with the argument that a soldier chooses his risks, wheras the 9/11 victims did not, I find that reasoning only to be a more compelling case for why the government should take better care of those who take care of us. 

No amount of money can possibly compensate you for the loss of your spouse.  But hopefully this change will allow military families faced with such a tragedy to focus on more important issues, rather than face immediate financial worries on top of it all.