Boost the 'death gratuity'.

Byline: The Register-Guard

At the start of this week, 1,415 U.S. troops had died in the Iraq war and 156 in Afghanistan and other hot spots in the global fight against terrorism. Under the Pentagon's existing "death gratuity," their survivors received a paltry $12,420 each in compensation.

This injustice would be remedied under President Bush's 2006 budget proposal that will be submitted to Congress next week. The plan would raise the tax-free benefit to families of troops killed in combat zones to $100,000. The government also would provide $150,000 in additional life insurance coverage, increasing the available limit to $400,000. The increases would be retroactive to Oct. 7, 2001, the date the U.S. launched its invasion of Afghanistan.

No amount of money can adequately compensate survivors for the loss of a loved one. But Bush's proposal would provide meaningful and much-needed practical assistance to the families of those who have died in the line of duty.

Congress established the death benefit under President Theodore Roosevelt in 1908, and it has been increased several times since then. The original benefit was the equivalent of six months' pay, and it was set at a time when most soldiers were young, unmarried men.

Current military demographics are very different: Roughly 60 percent of active-duty soldiers are married, and many have children. Moreover, nearly half of the troops serving in Iraq are National Guard and Reserve members, the majority of whom left behind families and occupations when called to active duty.

Congress should give swift approval to the increased survivor benefits. Any lawmaker who thinks this proposal is excessive should reflect on the average $4 million paid to each of the families of police officers and firefighters killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The Bush plan does have a flaw. The proposal would benefit only those who are serving in combat zones, but it should be expanded to include all troops who are killed while on active duty. A military death is a military death - and compensation should not be based on geography. The sense of loss of a survivor whose son dies in a training accident in Guam is no less than that of a survivor whose son dies in a roadside bombing in Baghdad.

The cost of the proposed increase is small compared to the injustice it rectifies. The retroactive payments would total $280 million, and the additional benefits would cost less than $500 million a year after that - small change for a military that drops a billion dollars on a weapons program without blinking an eye.

The increase in military survivor benefits is just one of many steps that need to be taken to improve conditions for those who serve in the armed forces, their families and veterans. But it's a step that's immediately achievable, and one that has immense symbolic and practical importance to survivors of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.