Benefits: It's up to you who gets paid

Published Sept. 16, 2009
By Tech. Sgt. Tammie Moore
4th Fighter Wing Public Affairs

SEYMOUR JOHNSON AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. -- Imagine you have been in an accident and are alone laying on a hospital bed floating in and out of consciousness and have a tube running down your throat unable to talk. Your family is unable to be with you, simply because Air Force officials cannot track them down because your Virtual Record of Emergency Data form had outdated information on it.

A surprisingly large portion of servicemembers have inaccurate contact information on their vRED which delays causality affairs representatives as they try to contact loved ones in the event of an accident or tragedy, said Andrew Colville, 4th Force Support Squadron CAR. "The vRED is a document that basically tells the Air Force where your next of kin is located in the event of an emergency, so if we have to notify them, we know where to go."

Likewise, the form can signify if a particular family member should not be notified due to ill health by listing an alternative contact.

In the event a servicemember passes away, the form also states who should receive the death gratuity payment and any unpaid pay and allowances. The death gratuity payment of $100,000 is a one-time, non-taxable sum to help surviving family members cope with financial hardships accompanying the loss.

"The servicemember dictates on the vRED who their death gratuity payment goes to," Mr. Colville said. "The vRED is a legal binding document."

If a servicemember does not list a payment beneficiary on their vRED to receive their entitlements they are distributed as state laws dictate.

"Our goal is to make sure the servicemember's wishes are followed, we can't do that if they did not specify what they are," Mr. Colville said.

In addition to establishing who should receive these entitlements, the vRED names the person authorized to direct disposition of their remains. This person is authorized to determine where the servicemember is buried.

In line with ensuring vRED information is current, Mr. Colville encourages service members to verify their Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance beneficiaries before or after a permanent change of station move or whenever they have a change in beneficiaries such as a birth, divorce or death.

If this document is wrong, the wrong person receive the entitlements, Mr. Colville said. This can really have a catastrophic impact, causing the family to suffer. If a person divorced and remarried and the ex-spouse is still on the SGLI form, the ex-spouse will receive the benefits, not the current spouse.

The base Military Personnel Section staff can help Airmen review and update their SGLI beneficiary Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. These updates are effective as soon as the paperwork is signed. Servicemembers can visit the Virtual MPF to view their current SGLI elections through Automated Records Management System.

All a servicemember needs to know is the full name and physical address of any beneficiaries they wish to name on their SGLI form, said April Mook, 4th FSS MPF customer service lead. There is no limit to the number of beneficiaries or who those beneficiaries can be. More information is available for review at the SGLI Web site https://www.insurance.va.gov.

Updates can be made to vRED through the Virtual Military Personal Flight Web site. These changes are effective as soon as they are submitted through the site. For more information about vRED and SGLI benefits, call Mr. Colville at 722-1172.