An important admin note...

[Bevo16]

In my squadron time, I was always lucky enough to dodge the admin jobs. I always worked in OPS, and that was just fine with me. Keep the pulse of the squadron, write the flight schedule, always know what is going on. I loved it.

Now, I am paying for it. Instead of dealing with a few admin issues, I get to deal with all of the Navy's admin screw ups. Don't get me wrong, some commands are really locked on when it comes to their admin shops. I would put the number at 20-25%. The rest...uh, not so much. It's fine though. I get that ships at sea and squadrons on deployment have other priorities. Still, each and every one here should know that you have to take some personal responsibility to take care of your affairs while you are enjoying a fun, but very dangerous profession.

I have mentioned the Page 2 before. Update the fucking thing. If your parents move, update it. If they get divorced. Update your page 2. You don't want to be lying in a hospital in Singapore and not have your family get notified. Oh, and we will bring them to you. It's called "bedside travel assistance". Ask your admin chief is he knows anything about it. I'll bet he doesn't.

On to SGLI. This form is just as important to keep updated. When you make an update, SIGN IT!!! If it's not signed, it's not valid. THIS PART IS REALLY IMPORTANT: If you have EVER, EVER, declined SGLI coverage for any reason, getting coverage is not as simple as filling out another form. You have to sign up again, AND fill out a statement of health. I am not going to tell you the form numbers because I want your admin department to look them up. But, trust me, if you do not have both of these forms in your record, then you are not insured. If your YN1 has them in a folder and they are not in the system, then you are not insured. If you have election form in the system (after having previously declined coverage) but are not paying SGLI premiums, then you are not insured.

By not insured, I don't mean that your survivors have to go through a legal battle to get the money. There is no money (other than death gratuity). They are not getting paid. End of story. It gives me no pleasure to tell the family of a dead sailor that they are not getting the insurance money that they thought mommy had signed up for because their YN1 didn't know the proper paperwork procedure. It sucks. It keeps me up at night. I fucking hate it. So fix your your damn paperwork so when you auger in I can at least find your family and cut them a check.

For bonus rep. Who can tell me what death gratuity is and who gets it?
If you get wounded in combat (OIF/OEF) where are you going to go and what is your family going to do?
Who does notifies the next of kin if a sailor is seriously ill or injured?
What if he is dead?

If you guys are senior, have your junior officers and admin shop look this stuff up and run a drill with your watch section.

 

[RedFive]

For bonus rep. Who can tell me what death gratuity is and who gets it?

A couple years ago congress increased it from $12,000 to $100,000 and it is paid to families of service members who die on active duty.

 

[desertoasis]

Who can tell me what death gratuity is and who gets it?
If you get wounded in combat (OIF/OEF) where are you going to go and what is your family going to do?
Who does notifies the next of kin if a sailor is seriously ill or injured?
What if he is dead?

The death gratuity is a euphemism for TSGLI, Tramatic SGLI, and is payable from 25,000 to 100,000 provided you didn't decline SGLI. It's a separate benefit from SGLI and is not disability compensation, it was originally designed to help provide financial assistance during recovery. It is given to the same person who you specify as your beneficiary of SGLI.

If you get wounded or killed in combat from OEF/OIF, your PNOK will be notified, as a minimum, by someone of equal or higher grade than you (or if your PNOK is active duty and outranks you, by someone of equal or higher grade to them). When you are wounded, you are given a status from Not Seriously Injured to Very Seriously Injured, with a range in between. Those who are Seriously Ill/Injured or Very Seriously Injured can have Invitational Travel Orders (ITOs) issued for up to three immediate family members in two week increments, so they can be with their wounded member.

Not sure where, specifically, you go, or who notifies your PNOK if you die, but my guess is that injured are airlifted to Ramstein or back to the States, and the dead are returned to CONUS via Dover, then escorted home by members from the deceased's service.

Please correct me if any of this is wrong!

 

[niktam]

I also think the Term is CACO, or Casualty Assistence Officer.

I learned the hard way all about TSGLI and everything else a year ago when my brother in law(a pilot no less) got in a really bad motorcycle accident and had his leg amputeed above the knee.

 

[Uncle Fester]

Heed Bevo's words. Fucked up Page 2 and SGLI can mean even more grief and headaches for your survivors. Mrs Fester is the CACO around here and, very unfortunately, recently had to swing into action. SGLI and Page 2 paperwork problems were big factors.

And don't just take some YN2's word for what you need to do and what you don't. I've worked in Admin in black shoes and brown; while some PC's and YN's really knew their shit, some clearly didn't know their hat from their ass.

 

[Bevo16]

The death gratuity is a euphemism for TSGLI, Tramatic SGLI, and is payable from 25,000 to 100,000 provided you didn't decline SGLI. It's a separate benefit from SGLI and is not disability compensation, it was originally designed to help provide financial assistance during recovery.

No. Not even close.

TSGLI is a totally different program for service members who suffer a tramatic injury or illness. This is most often paid only when the member's case is terminal.

Death gratuity is always $100,000 and is paid to your primary next of kin.

Who can tell me who that is?

It is given to the same person who you specify as your beneficiary of SGLI.

Nope. PNOK unless otherwise designated. Who is yours? I'll bet that you don't know.

If you get wounded or killed in combat from OEF/OIF, your PNOK will be notified, as a minimum, by someone of equal or higher grade than you (or if your PNOK is active duty and outranks you, by someone of equal or higher grade to them).

Wrong. All wrong.

If you are wounded, your family member gets a phone call from the command.

Your family only gets a knock on the door if you are dead. We try to make CACO assignments rank appropriate, but there are very few O-6's who are trained CACOs.

When you are wounded, you are given a status from Not Seriously Injured to Very Seriously Injured, with a range in between.

Close. You are either NSI, SI, or VSI. Each has a specific definition.

Those who are Seriously Ill/Injured or Very Seriously Injured can have Invitational Travel Orders (ITOs) issued for up to three immediate family members in two week increments, so they can be with their wounded member.

Not bad.

The "can have" is important though. If someone is SI or VSI, the casualty report MUST have "Presence of NOK is warranted at bedside" by a MILITARY doctor's reccomendation. If you have a sailor in a civilian hospital, you need to get one of your local docs involved in the process to sign off on the bedside statement.

If you are wounded in combat and NSI/SI/VSI, your family still gets bedside travel assistance no matter what.

Not sure where, specifically, you go, or who notifies your PNOK if you die, but my guess is that injured are airlifted to Ramstein or back to the States, and the dead are returned to CONUS via Dover, then escorted home by members from the deceased's service.

If you die, your command will issue a PCR and send my office your Page 2 and SGLI election form. Every person on those forms will have a CACO (Casualty Assistance Calls Officer) assigned to them by geographic region and each will get an in person notification (hopefully) with a chaplain. The CACO's primary job is to provide information to the family and guide them through the funeral process and explain their financial benefits to them. CACOs are not grief counselors.

Each Navy Region is responsible for running it's own CACO program. If your parents are divorced and your parents live on opposite coasts, then their cases will be handled by different CACO's who are owned and assigned by different casualty regions. Those regions should be talking to each other, but it does not always happen.

Most medical evacuations go to Landstuhl and then on to Bethesda.

We have sent some family members to Germany, but we prefer to wait until they get to Maryland. We have had one very eager family insist on going to Germany, only to have to wave at their son's planes as the passed each other over the Atlantic. Never wanted to drop an "I told you so." so bad in my life.

If you are dead, they pack you in ice and send you to Dover in a transfer case. We will offer your family the opportunity to travel to Dover to witness the "Dignified Transfer" (taking the transfer case from the aircraft to the milk truck). This is a change from previous policy, and is a result of President Obama's order to allow media coverage of the DT.

Please correct me if any of this is wrong!

It was a good effort.

 

[exhelodrvr]

And pester the people that work for you to get/keep their's updated.

When someone gets married/divorced/has a baby, remind them that they may want to make changes to these items.

 

[rookie7734]

Bevo, great posts. I never got the chance to be in OPS; had to spend my time in the squadron in legal and asst. admin. It gave me a real appreciation for the necessity of getting the paperwork things right, and I am now trying to impress that upon my two sons who are in the military (one Army, the other Navy).

I am going to e-mail them this thread. Thanks.

 

[desertoasis]

It was a good effort.

Well, it brings home that saying 'If you screw up, screw up with everything you've got.'

Thanks for the exhaustive corrections. Glad the right information is getting out instead of mine!

 

[Schnugg]

Have seen a case where a senior chief divorces and remarried. A few years later he kicks the bucket.


SGLI was paid out to his former wife per his page 2 paperwork...nothing to new wife and dependant.

No way to help in a case like that.

 

[Jynx]

your primary next of kin.
Who can tell me who that is?

Don't you indicate who your primary next of kin is to receive those payments? Furthermore, can't you nominate a second kin as well? EX: The primary can be your father, and if he isn't able to be located or is incapacitated for some reason, the secondary can be your sister?
I know that's the case for the life insurance policy at any rate.

 

[CUPike11]

I think this should be a sticky for those of us who are still going to be coming up through the ranks, so that we'll remember important pieces of information like this AND be able to pass it on to others as well.

I mean I have no idea what half the acronyms mean, but I can infer what Bevo and the others are saying and tell its pretty damn important. I've also done this for my own benefits package at my previous job, so I have an idea. I dont know what Page 2 is either, but I'll check every single one I come across once this process gets rolling.

Just my .02

 

[Uncle Fester]

You don't have to understand it right now. Just remember that you should keep your Page 2 up-to-date, sign up for max SGLI at the first opportunity and make sure the beneficiary is who you want it to be.

 

[Bevo16]

Don't you indicate who your primary next of kin is to receive those payments?

No. Well, not exactly.

Your primary next of kin is determined by military instruction, specifically the DODI 1300.18.

E2.46. Primary Next of Kin (PNOK). The person most closely related to the casualty is considered PNOK for casualty notification and assistance purposes. The unremarried surviving spouse is PNOK. The term “surviving spouse” does not include one who obtained a divorce from the decedent (at any time). See also paragraph E2.41E2.42. Other NOK and interested parties are recognized in the following order:
E2.46.1. Natural and adopted children in order of seniority (age). The age of majority is 18 years. Their surviving parent or legal guardian shall exercise the rights of minor children.
E2.46.2. Parents in order of seniority (age), unless legal exclusive (sole) custody was granted to a person by reason of a court decree or statutory provision.
E2.46.3. Blood or adoptive relative who was granted legal custody of the person by a court decree or statutory provision.
E2.46.4. Brothers or sisters of legal age in order of seniority (age).
E2.46.5. Grandparents in order of seniority (age).
E2.46.6. Other relatives of legal age in order of relationship to the individual according to civil laws. Seniority (age) controls when persons are of equal degree of relationship.
E2.46.7. Persons standing in loco parentis to the decedent. Seniority in age will control when the persons are of equal relationship.
E2.46.8. The remarried surviving spouse. The term remarried surviving spouse does not include one who obtained a divorce from the decedent (at any time) or who remarried before a finding of death pursuant to Reference (u).

You DO indicate who your PNOK is on your page two. The problem is that very few YN's know what the DODI says. They just tell you "it's the person you want to get notified if you die".

You can designate someone other than the PNOK to get death gratuity, but if there is no designation it goes to the PNOK.

Furthermore, can't you nominate a second kin as well? EX: The primary can be your father, and if he isn't unable to be located or is incapacitated for some reason, the secondary can be your sister?

Any relative who is not your PNOK is a SNOK.

I know that's the case for the life insurance policy at any rate.

Negative. Life insurance is paid to whoever is on the form, and those persons (or their estate) only.


While you cannot change your PNOK, you can designate PAAD (Person Authorized to Direct Disposition). That is the person who is going to be in charge of your remains. They make funeral decisions, and they must be a blood relative. If you put someone down as PAAD who is not a blood relative, the people in my office (most likley me) will be making that decision for you.

The attached document can be a big help to your admin departments. I usually send it out after they have really screwed something up. The links should be required reading for your admin-o and chief.

 

[RedFive]

I dont know what Page 2 is either, but I'll check every single one I come across once this process gets rolling.

You will learn about it at OCS. And then you (like others, including myself) will think that you actually know something. And then you will reach ensignhood and read a post like this and realize that you still don't know anything.

:sadpanda

And then you will probably goto some beach in perdido and forget all about this. Hey, that sounds like a swell idea!

I agree, sticky please.