Life Insurance

No civilian employer hands you half a million dollars of life insurance with no health screening, no age-based pricing, no occupational exclusions, and no combat carve-outs. The Air Force does it automatically, which leaves you exactly three jobs: name your beneficiaries, decide on family coverage, and never miss the conversion deadlines when you leave.

$500,000 from day one, no questions asked

Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (SGLI) is low-cost federal group term life insurance, administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs through the Office of Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (OSGLI) and underwritten by Prudential Insurance Company of America. Functionally it is employer-sponsored life insurance where the employer is the federal government.

When you enter active duty you are automatically enrolled at the maximum: $500,000. Coverage starts the moment you start service and runs 24/7, wherever you are and whatever you are doing, with no war, terrorism, or location exclusions of any kind. Die from any cause while covered and your beneficiaries receive a tax-free lump sum. (The VA keeps a Myths and Rumors page for the persistent barracks rumors that claim otherwise.)

The price: $0.05 per $1,000 of coverage per month, effective July 1, 2025, a 16.7% cut from the prior $0.06 rate. Maximum coverage costs $25 for SGLI plus $1 for Traumatic Injury Protection (TSGLI): $26 per month, deducted automatically and visible on your Leave and Earnings Statement. Before the July 2025 reduction the same coverage cost $31 per month, so the new rate saves $60 a year. Comparable private coverage typically runs several times more, especially for hazardous duties. One caution if you go rate-checking: as of this writing, the DFAS website still shows the old $0.06 rate and MyAirForceBenefits displays an outdated March 2023 table. Treat VA.gov as the authoritative source.

The $500,000 maximum dates to March 2023, when Public Law 117-209 raised it from $400,000. As of 2025, the SGLI family of programs insures about 5.1 million people for $1.4 trillion in total coverage (VA Life Insurance).

Coverage comes in $50,000 increments, from $50,000 up to $500,000, and you can reduce or decline it. Think hard first. Declining SGLI also terminates your TSGLI and your family's FSGLI coverage; if you are married, your spouse is notified in writing; and restoring coverage later may require health questions and approval. Most financial advisors strongly recommend keeping at least some SGLI because nothing on the civilian market matches its value.

SOES is where everything happens

Adjust coverage anytime in the SGLI Online Enrollment System (SOES): log into milConnect with your Common Access Card, open the Benefits tab, then select "Life Insurance (SOES-SGLI Online Enrollment System)." Increases take effect immediately; reductions take effect the first day of the following month. SOES is the required method per DoD Instruction 1341.14; paper form SGLV 8286 remains for emergent situations or for members without SOES access yet, such as during basic training.

The beneficiary form outranks your divorce decree

You can name any person, organization, trust, or your estate, and split the benefit among multiple beneficiaries by percentage. Update through SOES, or with paper form SGLV 8286 if you have part-time coverage.

Here is the mistake that costs families: life events do not change your beneficiaries. Marriage, divorce, a child's birth, a beneficiary's death: the form stays exactly as you left it until you change it. Divorce and never update, and your ex-spouse can receive the entire death benefit.

Die with no designation at all and payment follows the "by law" order: surviving spouse, then children, then parents, then your estate's executor, then other next of kin. A clear designation prevents delays and disputes.

One Air Force wrinkle: SOES does not update your Record of Emergency Data (RED). Update the RED separately through vMPF.

TSGLI pays you while you are alive

Traumatic Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (TSGLI) rides on your SGLI automatically. You cannot decline it separately, and it costs a flat $1 per month (unchanged by the July 2025 rate cut). Where SGLI pays your beneficiaries when you die, TSGLI pays you: $25,000 to $100,000 tax-free if you survive a qualifying traumatic injury. It covers you 24/7, on or off duty, in combat or in a car accident at home. And it is completely separate from your death benefit: collecting the full $100,000 TSGLI does not reduce what your beneficiaries later receive from SGLI.

Qualifying losses are defined in the TSGLI Schedule of Losses: amputations, loss of sight or hearing, severe burns covering 20% or more of the body, paralysis (quadriplegia, paraplegia, hemiplegia), traumatic brain injury requiring hospitalization or causing loss of daily function, coma, certain facial reconstruction needs, genitourinary losses, and loss of two or more activities of daily living. Payment scales with severity:

Multiple injuries from the same event combine up to the $100,000 cap.

The fine print: the injury must result from a traumatic event (external force, exposure, or accident), you must survive at least 7 full days (168 hours) after it, and the qualifying loss must occur within 730 days (2 years) of the event. Excluded: self-inflicted injuries, injuries involving illegal drugs, injuries from medical or surgical treatment of illness, and injuries sustained while committing a felony.

The VA expanded TSGLI effective April 14, 2023 to cover inpatient care at critical care, rehabilitation, and skilled nursing facilities, plus "therapeutic pass" care for transitioning from an inpatient facility to living at home. Previously denied claims may be eligible for reconsideration under the expanded criteria.

Filing a claim: you (or your representative, if you are incapacitated) complete Part A of form SGLV 8600 (current edition: February 2025); your medical professional completes Part B. Submit it with supporting medical documentation to the Air Force's TSGLI office, the Air Force Wounded Warrior (AFW2) program, a congressionally mandated program currently supporting over 8,400 wounded warriors, families, and caregivers (woundedwarrior.af.mil). Approved claims pay by direct deposit, check, or Prudential Alliance Account. Denials can be appealed on form SGLV 8600A within one year.

FSGLI: the family rides on your policy

Family Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (FSGLI) covers your spouse and dependent children while you carry full-time SGLI. If you are already married or plan to start a family during service, this is the piece to understand before day one.

Spouse coverage runs up to $100,000 in $10,000 increments and can never exceed your own SGLI amount: carry $50,000 yourself and your spouse's cap is $50,000. Civilian spouses registered in DEERS are enrolled automatically once you have full-time SGLI. Military spouses are different. If you married another service member on or after January 2, 2013, you must enroll them through SOES yourself: within 240 days of the marriage (or other coverage-triggering event) no proof of good health is required; after 240 days it is. A military spouse can be covered under both FSGLI and their own SGLI at once, up to $500,000 combined.

Spouse premiums come out of your pay, not your spouse's, and are based on your spouse's age. Rates dropped 11 to 22% effective July 1, 2025:

When a spouse crosses into a new age bracket, the higher premium starts the first day of the month after their birth month.

Children are covered free. Each dependent child gets $10,000 in coverage at no cost to you, automatically: natural children, adopted children, and stepchildren living in your household. Coverage lasts until age 18, until 23 for full-time students, or indefinitely for a child who became permanently incapable of self-support before 18.

The 120-day conversion window. FSGLI terminates 120 days after you separate, after a divorce, or after a child stops qualifying as a dependent. Within that window your spouse can convert to an individual permanent (whole life) policy with a participating commercial insurer without proving good health. The conversion right applies to whole life only, not term, variable, or universal policies, and child coverage cannot be converted at all.

Reserve and Guard: the 12-drill line

Active duty is simple: full-time coverage 24/7/365 from your first day, premiums deducted automatically, TSGLI included, FSGLI available, and 120 days of free continued coverage after separation.

For the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard, one number controls everything: 12. Assigned to a unit with at least 12 scheduled periods of inactive duty training (drills) per year, you get full-time SGLI identical to Active Duty: covered 365 days a year, at your civilian job, on vacation, everywhere. Most traditional drilling Reservists and Guardsmen clear that bar, which is why "Guard members are only covered during drill weekends" is wrong for most of the people who repeat it.

Fall below 12 and you get part-time coverage only: protection during actual duty hours and direct travel to and from duty. That leaves significant gaps, and part-time members are not eligible for FSGLI.

Deployments and activations override your elections. Under 38 U.S.C. Section 1967, a member deployed to a combat theater must be insured at the maximum $500,000 and cannot decline coverage while deployed, even if they declined SGLI before. The government reimburses SGLI and TSGLI premiums during combat deployments, and coverage reverts to your pre-deployment election at midnight on the last day of the month you return.

In a non-pay status (drilling for retirement points rather than pay), premiums are on you, paid directly. Contact DFAS at 1-888-332-7411 to arrange it.

Still weighing full-time against part-time service? The component comparison covers far more than insurance.

VGLI: two deadlines decide everything

Your SGLI does not follow you out. It ends 120 days after separation, and after that you have no military life insurance unless you convert to Veterans' Group Life Insurance (VGLI), a renewable term policy, or buy private coverage.

Two deadlines, and they are unforgiving:

• 240 days after separation: apply by now and you get guaranteed acceptance, no health questions, no medical exam. This matters enormously if you are leaving with service-connected disabilities, PTSD, traumatic brain injury, or anything else a private insurer would price against you.
• 485 days after separation (1 year and 120 days): the absolute cutoff. Applications between day 240 and day 485 require evidence of good health and can be denied. After day 485 you are permanently ineligible.

OSGLI mails you a VGLI application packet about 45 to 60 days after you separate. Do not ignore it.

Unlike SGLI's flat rate, VGLI premiums track your age bracket and rise every five years. Rates were reduced 2 to 17% (averaging 11%) effective July 1, 2025. For $500,000 of coverage:

Coverage runs $10,000 to $500,000 in $10,000 increments. Veterans under 60 can add $25,000 on their one-year VGLI anniversary and every five years after, up to the $500,000 maximum, with no proof of good health. Apply online at giosgli.prudential.com, by mail with form SGLV 8714 (current edition: July 2025) to OSGLI, BOX 41618, Philadelphia, PA 19176-1618, or by fax to 800-236-6142.

Is VGLI the right conversion? For veterans with health conditions, usually yes: guaranteed acceptance inside 240 days, no health-based pricing, and no surcharges for smokers or hazardous occupations. For young, healthy veterans, private insurance often wins on price: a 25-year-old locking in a 20-year level-term policy from a commercial insurer may pay significantly less over those 20 years than VGLI's climbing brackets. The common advisor recommendation splits the difference: take VGLI as bridge coverage so there is never a gap, then shop.

Two features worth knowing about. The Accelerated Benefit Option lets terminally ill veterans (9 months or less to live) access up to 50% of the face value as a lump sum. And VGLI can convert to a permanent (whole life) policy at any time at standard premium rates, without proof of good health.

Insurance is one line item in a much larger exit checklist; see Planning Your Transition and Veteran Resources.

Who to call

For pay and premium-deduction questions specifically, Air Force members often get faster service from 800-525-0102 or a MyFSS ticket than from the general DFAS line.