SGLI: What You Have, What Your Family Gets, and What Happens When You ETS or Separate
Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance is one of the most valuable benefits the Army provides — and one of the most ignored. Most Soldiers know they have it. Few understand what it actually covers, what their family gets if they die, or what happens to it the moment they ETS or separate. This article fixes that. Whether you’re a junior Soldier who’s never looked at your SGLV form or a senior NCO planning a transition, you need to know this cold.
You are automatically enrolled in SGLI for $500,000 in coverage at $26/month (effective July 1, 2025) unless you reduced or declined it in writing. Your spouse is automatically covered under FSGLI. Your dependent children get $10,000 free. When you ETS or separate, you have 120 days of free coverage — then it stops. You have 1 year and 120 days to convert to VGLI. Miss that window and you may need to prove insurability. Update your beneficiaries in SOES. Today.
What SGLI Is and What It Costs
SGLI is a low-cost group term life insurance program administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs and available to all active duty service members, Ready Reserve and National Guard members assigned to units with at least 12 inactive duty training periods per year, and several other categories including ROTC members on authorized training.
You are automatically enrolled at the maximum coverage amount of $500,000 unless you specifically reduced or declined coverage in writing using SGLV Form 8286. If you’ve never touched that form, you have $500,000 in coverage.
Coverage is available in $50,000 increments. As of July 1, 2025, the monthly premium for $500,000 of coverage dropped to $26 — down from $31. That rate decrease went into effect automatically. Your SGLI also includes Traumatic Injury Protection (TSGLI) at $1/month additional — that’s $27 total for the full package.
| Coverage Amount | SGLI Premium (effective Jul 1, 2025) | TSGLI Added |
|---|---|---|
| $500,000 | $25.00 | $26.00 total (incl. TSGLI) |
| $450,000 | $22.50 | $23.50 total (incl. TSGLI) |
| $400,000 | $20.00 | $21.00 total (incl. TSGLI) |
| $350,000 | $17.50 | $18.50 total (incl. TSGLI) |
| $300,000 | $15.00 | $16.00 total (incl. TSGLI) |
| $100,000 | $5.00 | $6.00 total (incl. TSGLI) |
Source: VA SGLI Overview; MyArmyBenefits SGLI. Rates effective July 1, 2025.
TSGLI: The Traumatic Injury Piece Most Soldiers Don’t Know About
Every Soldier with SGLI automatically has Traumatic Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance (TSGLI) at no additional cost beyond the $1/month premium. TSGLI is not life insurance — it’s short-term financial support for Soldiers who suffer a qualifying traumatic injury while on duty.
If you experience a qualifying traumatic injury — loss of a limb, loss of sight or hearing, severe burns, traumatic brain injury meeting the threshold, or other qualifying losses — TSGLI pays between $25,000 and $100,000 directly to you (not your beneficiary) while you’re recovering. The intent is to allow your family to be with you during recovery without having to worry about paying bills.
This coverage is automatic. You don’t enroll separately. But you do need to file a claim — it doesn’t happen automatically after an injury. If you or someone in your unit is injured, TSGLI claims are filed through your branch of service.
Family Coverage: FSGLI
If you are married and covered under full-time SGLI, your spouse is automatically covered under Family Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance (FSGLI). You don’t opt in — it’s automatic. Your spouse can receive coverage up to $100,000, not to exceed your own SGLI coverage amount. Premiums are deducted from your base pay and vary by coverage amount and the spouse’s age.
Your dependent children receive $10,000 in coverage automatically at no cost. That coverage extends to age 18, or to age 22 if the child is a full-time student, or indefinitely if the child is deemed totally disabled before age 18.
Dual Military Couples: FSGLI Is Not Automatic for Both
If you are married to another service member, you are each eligible for your own $500,000 SGLI. However, FSGLI spouse coverage for a service member married to a service member is not automatic — it must be requested. If your spouse is also active duty and you want FSGLI coverage on them, you need to request it through SOES. Check your current enrollment now — this is one of the most commonly missed enrollments in dual-military households.
Your Beneficiaries: Who Gets the Money
SGLI pays your death benefit to whoever you designated on your SGLV Form 8286. If you’ve never updated that form — or filled it out during in-processing and forgot about it — your beneficiary designation may reflect a situation that no longer matches your life. Marriage, divorce, the birth of children, the death of a previously named beneficiary — all of these are reasons to update.
Beneficiary changes are made through the SGLI Online Enrollment System (SOES), accessible through the Defense Manpower Data Center (milConnect). You can split the benefit among multiple beneficiaries, name contingent beneficiaries, and designate a trust or estate. You cannot name a minor child directly — if you want your child to receive the benefit, you need a trust or a named adult custodian.
The Accelerated Benefit Option also exists: if you are terminally ill with a life expectancy of 9 months or less, you can receive up to 50% of your SGLI benefit as a lump sum while still alive, in $5,000 increments. This doesn’t require a terminal diagnosis at the combat level — it applies to any covered terminal illness.
When Did You Last Check Your Beneficiary?
The Army requires you to review your SGLV 8286 annually as part of your personnel and financial records review. Most Soldiers sign off on it without looking. Pull up SOES right now and verify your beneficiary is who you intend it to be and that the information is current. It takes five minutes. It matters more than almost anything else on this page.
The SGLI Forms: Know What You’re Signing
There are several SGLI-related forms that control your coverage, your beneficiaries, and what happens at separation. Most Soldiers sign them once at in-processing and never look at them again. Here’s what each one does and when you need to act on it.
| Form | Purpose | When to Use It |
|---|---|---|
| SGLV 8286 | SGLI Election and Certificate — sets your coverage amount and beneficiary | At enlistment, after any life change, or to reduce/cancel coverage. Submit to your S1 or update through SOES on milConnect. |
| SGLV 8286A | Family Coverage Election — sets FSGLI spousal coverage amount | At marriage, or to change/cancel spouse coverage. Submit to your S1. |
| SGLV 8714 | Application for Veterans’ Group Life Insurance (VGLI) | Within 1 year and 120 days of separation. Apply through the VA or submit via OSGLI. |
| SGLV 8715 | Application for SGLI Disability Extension — free coverage up to 2 years if totally disabled at separation | Apply before you out-process. Submit to your S1 or directly to OSGLI. |
| SGLV 8283 | Claim for Death Benefits — filed by your beneficiary after your death | Filed by your designated beneficiary. Make sure they know this form exists and where to find it. |
| SGLV 8284 | Accelerated Benefits Option — access up to 50% of your benefit while terminally ill | If terminally ill with a life expectancy of 9 months or less. Submit to OSGLI. |
Source: VA SGLI Overview. All forms linked directly to the VA. Your S1 can assist with submission and access issues.
For most SGLI changes — coverage amount, beneficiary updates — use SOES on milConnect. That’s the preferred and fastest method. If you need to submit a paper form, your S1 is your first stop — they can process SGLV 8286 and 8286A and route them correctly. For VGLI and post-separation forms (SGLV 8714, 8715, 8283, 8284), these go directly to the Office of Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance (OSGLI) at the address listed on each form, or through the VA’s online systems. Your S1 can assist with any form if you’re unsure.
The most important of these for most Soldiers is SGLV 8286 — the election and beneficiary form. This controls who gets your $500,000. SOES on milConnect is the standard update method. The paper form exists as a backup when SOES access isn’t available.
Divorce Does Not Automatically Remove Your Ex From SGLI
This is the most expensive mistake Soldiers make with SGLI. A divorce decree does not automatically revoke an ex-spouse’s beneficiary designation. If you named your ex on SGLV 8286 and haven’t updated it since the divorce — they are still getting the $500,000. The Army pays whoever is named on the form at the time of death. It does not cross-reference your marital status. If you are divorced, separated, or your life situation has changed in any way since you last touched that form — update your SOES beneficiary designation today. Not eventually. Today.
The same principle applies to any major life change — remarriage, estrangement from a previously named family member, or the death of a named beneficiary. The form reflects your last intentional action. If that was 2011 at in-processing, that’s who gets paid.
DD 93: The Form That Controls Who Gets Notified — and Who Gets Paid
SGLI and the DD 93 are two separate documents that work together. Most Soldiers update one and forget the other — and the consequences fall on their family at the worst possible time.
The DD Form 93, Record of Emergency Data, is not a life insurance form. It designates two critical things:
- Person(s) to be notified in the event of your death, serious illness, or injury — your next of kin for casualty notification purposes
- Beneficiary for unpaid pay and allowances — the person who receives any pay, allowances, or other entitlements owed to you at the time of death that are not covered by SGLI
These designations are entirely independent of your SGLI beneficiary. You could have your spouse named on your SGLI and your parents listed on your DD 93 — and both would be acted on separately. Make sure both forms reflect your current intent.
Your DD 93 is updated through IPPS-A (Integrated Personnel and Pay System — Army). Log in, navigate to your personal data, and update your emergency contact and beneficiary designations. Your S1 can also assist if you have access issues. Like SOES for SGLI, this should be reviewed annually and immediately after any life change — marriage, divorce, birth of a child, or the death of a previously named contact.
Your SGLI Beneficiary and Your DD 93 Are Not the Same
Updating your SOES beneficiary does not update your DD 93. Updating your DD 93 does not update your SOES. They are separate systems with separate designations. A Soldier who gets married, updates their SGLI beneficiary to their spouse, and never touches the DD 93 may still have their parents listed as emergency notification contacts and unpaid pay beneficiaries. Check both. Update both.
What Happens to Your SGLI When You ETS or Separate
This is where most Soldiers get caught. The transition out of SGLI is automatic — and if you don’t act, you end up uninsured.
Here’s the timeline:
- While on terminal leave: You’re still on active duty. SGLI coverage continues exactly as it was. No action required.
- Date of separation: Your SGLI coverage continues for 120 days at no cost from your separation date.
- Day 121: SGLI ends. You are no longer covered.
- 1 year and 120 days from separation: Hard deadline to apply for VGLI. After this window closes, VGLI is no longer available to you.
The 240-Day Rule on VGLI
If you apply for Veterans’ Group Life Insurance (VGLI) within 240 days of separation, you do not need to prove you are in good health — no medical exam, no health questionnaire. After 240 days, you must submit evidence of insurability. If your health has changed since you separated, that window matters enormously. Apply early. Don’t let the 120-day free coverage window lull you into waiting.
VGLI: Your Post-Separation Option
Veterans’ Group Life Insurance (VGLI) is your bridge after you ETS or separate, administered through the VA. You can apply for VGLI coverage up to the amount of SGLI you had at separation — if you had $500,000 in SGLI, you can get $500,000 in VGLI. VGLI is renewable term insurance, available in $10,000 increments up to $500,000.
VGLI premiums are significantly higher than SGLI and increase with age — unlike SGLI’s flat group rate. For a 30-year-old, $500,000 of VGLI costs around $60/month. By age 50, that same coverage costs over $200/month. VGLI is a bridge, not a permanent solution. Most financial planners recommend converting or replacing VGLI with a private term life policy when you’re young and healthy, while keeping VGLI as a fallback if private insurance becomes unavailable due to a service-connected condition.
You can also increase VGLI coverage by $25,000 on each five-year anniversary of enrollment, up to $500,000, without proving insurability. That flexibility is one of VGLI’s genuine advantages over some private policies.
Totally Disabled at Separation: The Free Extension
If you are totally disabled at the time of separation, you may be eligible for free SGLI coverage for up to two years after your separation date. You must apply using SGLV Form 8715, Application for SGLI Disability Extension, submitted to OSGLI. This coverage doesn’t happen automatically — you must apply. If you’re separating with a disability rating and haven’t looked at this, do it before you out-process.
Reserve and National Guard: What’s Different
Ready Reserve and National Guard members assigned to units with at least 12 inactive duty training periods per year are eligible for full-time SGLI — the same coverage, same rates. Coverage is in effect during active duty periods and for 120 days following release from active duty orders.
For part-time coverage during inactive duty training (drill weekends), eligibility applies during the training period itself and for a short window afterward. If you’re a drilling Guard or Reserve member and haven’t verified your SGLI enrollment is current, check with your unit S1. SOES is the same system — milConnect, manage SGLI.
The BOLO List
You named your mom as beneficiary at age 18 during basic training. You’re now married with two kids. Your mom still gets the $500,000 if you die — unless you updated the form. SOES is the fix. Go to milConnect, manage your SGLI, update your beneficiary today. This is not optional. This is the most important administrative action connected to this benefit.
Soldiers who separate and assume they have “four months to figure out insurance” end up on day 119 with no plan, a health condition that developed during service, and no idea that the 240-day no-questions window for VGLI is almost closed. Start your VGLI or private insurance research before you sign your ETS paperwork — not after. The free window is for transition logistics, not for deciding whether you want life insurance.
Your 3 Action Items
- Verify both your SGLI beneficiary and your DD 93 — today — Log into milConnect (SOES) and verify your SGLI beneficiary. Then log into IPPS-A and confirm your DD 93 emergency contact and unpaid pay beneficiary are current. These are two separate systems — updating one does not update the other. If anything has changed since you last touched either form, fix it before you close the browser.
- Dual military? Check your FSGLI enrollment — If you’re married to another service member, verify whether FSGLI is in place for your spouse. It is not automatic for dual-military couples. If it’s missing, get it added through SOES now.
- ETS in the next 12 months? Start your VGLI or replacement insurance research now — Don’t wait for your separation date. Research VGLI rates at va.gov, compare to private term life options, and make a decision before your 120-day free window expires. If you are totally disabled at separation, file SGLV 8715 before you out-process.
Questions about SGLI, FSGLI, beneficiary designations, or what to do with your coverage at ETS? Post it in the Personnel & Admin forum — the formation has been there.
