WASHINGTON, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- Top military leaders oppose the Pentagon's plan to offer increased death benefits only to those killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, they told Congress Tuesday.
The Pentagon wants to boost death benefits to those killed in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom from about $250,000 -- most of it from an insurance payout -- to about $500,000, a number that would include a new $100,000 death benefit. Currently, families receive a one-time "death gratuity" of just $12,500 cash. The additional money would be paid retroactively to any service member killed in either of those wars beginning October 2001.
But the vice chiefs of each of the military services told the Senate Armed Services Committee they don't think the Pentagon should discriminate between those killed in combat and those who die in other regions of the world.
"For me, if a young man or lady steps forward and takes the oath ... we have to be very careful about making any distinction about the type of service they render. We should be very careful not to omit those who might be training to go, or (having returned from deployment) having trouble adapting and perhaps lose their life on the road after a late night at a club," said Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. William Nyland.
Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John B. Nathman echoed that sentiment.
"The benefits should not just be for those who serve in a specific geographic area," he said. "This has been about how to take care of the survivors (of dead military members). They can't make a distinction, and we shouldn't either."
But that is precisely the intent of the program, said Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness David Chu.
"What the country wants to do is try to recognize those who fall in Afghanistan and Iraq," Chu said. "Obviously it's a different matter if in some respect your own actions led to your untimely demise. Should we cover that?"
That approach is enshrined in a new bill, the Heroes Act, which was introduced by Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., on Jan. 24. That bill gives the secretary of defense the power to decide which fallen troops merit the additional pay.
A separate bill introduced by Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., would give the death benefit to all service members on active duty who have died after Sept. 11.
Current death benefits include the $12,420 death gratuity; $6,900 in funeral costs; up to $250,000 in life insurance; a six-month housing allowance; three years of cost-free medical care for the surviving family members and then subsidized healthcare; a monthly cash payment of about $1,000 plus $247 for each child; and education benefits that can exceed $100,000 for a spouse and two children. The total can amount to over $2 million in the life of a surviving spouse with young children, according to Chu.
It is the death gratuity -- a name Chu would like to see changed, that is at issue. Under the Pentagon plan and several bills introduced in Congress, that payment would be boosted to $100,000. The insurance payout would increase from about $250,000 to $400,000. If a service member was killed in combat and had not paid the premium on the entire benefit, the Pentagon picks up the bill to make sure the service member is fully covered.
While they welcome the increase and called current benefits "inadequate," the discrimination between those in combat and those who are not is not a position supported by any of the service vice chiefs. Combat deployments are generally not volunteer missions. In most cases, it is the luck of the draw whether a service member is assigned to either Iraq or Afghanistan. But every service member volunteers to take on the risks of combat and training when he or she signs up, the military officials argued.
"I'd rather err on the side of covering all deaths than trying to make a distinction," said Gen. Richard A. Cody, Army vice chief of staff. "Training in some places is as lethal as combat."
"I believe a death is a death," said Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley.
The active duty military suffers an annual casualty rate of anywhere from 1 percent to 9 percent, according to Defense Department statistics. In 2002, the last year for which complete data is publicly available, there were 1,007 casualties, the majority from accidents, then illness, suicide, homicide and then combat.
The actual numbers of dead active duty service members over the last 20 years range from a low of 774 in the year 2000 out of a population of 1,564,066 full-time equivalent troops to a high of 2,465 when there 2,273,364 full-time equivalent troops.
There have been at least 1,587 deaths in the Iraq and Afghan wars since 2001, all but 426 killed in combat operations. The remainder died in accidents in the field.
If full death benefits under the new plan were paid to all those families, the total would be $793.5 million, plus $500,000 for each new family added to the death rolls. With each family now receiving death benefits of $262,500, the total paid out has been $416.5 million for each of the wars.
"You have to draw some kind of a line," said Republican Sen. James Inhofe from Oklahoma. "I think we're strapped in or military, and the more you increase these benefits, that does come out of the DOD" budget.
Chu denied a financial motive for the limitation of added death benefits in comments to reporters after the hearing.
"We decided this is a good place to draw the line," Chu told United Press International after the hearing.
