SOLDIER “DEATH BENEFITS” M.I.A.

Last month, the Bush admin­is­tra­tion announced that, in the Pentagon’s 2006 bud­get, there would a big bump in the so-​​called “death ben­e­fit” for mil­i­tary fam­i­lies. If a sol­dier was killed in war, admin­is­tra­tion offi­cials promised, his loved ones would get a $100,000 lump sum — up from just $12,420 — plus an extra $150,000 in life insur­ance pay­outs. It seemed like a great idea. Everybody cheered.
But then, some­thing curi­ous hap­pened. Or rather, didn’t hap­pen. The Pentagon never included the money for a big­ger death ben­e­fit in its bud­get. So now, the Army has gone to Congress, ask­ing for an extra $348 mil­lion to keep the administration’s word.
The money is part is a larger, $4.8 bil­lion pack­age of Army “FY06 Shortfalls and Requested Legislative Authorities” — pro­grams that the service’s chiefs felt should have received more money from the Pentagon bud­geteers. Every year, the Army, Navy, and Air Force appeal directly to Congress to infuse these pro­grams with more cash. This year’s Army list also includes $443 mil­lion for more M16s and other small arms and $227 mil­lion for night vision equip­ment, Inside Defense notes.
Now, maybe the death ben­e­fit lack this year was just a sim­ple over­sight on the Pentagon’s part. Maybe the Defense Department’s PR machine spun a lit­tle faster than its finan­cial wheels could turn. But given the cyn­i­cal games the Pentagon has been play­ing with sol­diers’ pay­checks — hold­ing them hostage, essen­tially, as a back-​​door way to inflate mil­i­tary spend­ing — I’m inclined to believe the worst.
THERE’S MORE: Inside Defense has a full list of all of the ser­vices’ “unfunded require­ments.”

March 2nd, 2005 | Money Money Money | Comments Off Both comments and pings are currently closed.