Your dead boy will now get you some decent hush money

So shut up and see how well we take care of our troops.

President George W. Bush plans to propose a dramatic increase to $250,000 in government payments to families of U.S. troops killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and in future combat zones.

The plan to increase the tax-free so-called death gratuity, now $12,420, to $100,000 and provide an extra $150,000 in life insurance payouts will be part of the 2006 budget proposal submitted to Congress next week, David Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said in an interview last week. Chu is to unveil the full proposal in congressional testimony today.

Veterans groups and many in Congress have been pushing for such an increase in the death gratuity.

Under the proposal, the $250,000 coverage offered to all service members at a subsidized rate under the Servicemen's Group Life Insurance program would be raised to $400,000, and for troops in a combat zone the government would pay the premiums on the extra $150,000 coverage.

Chu said the extra life-insurance coverage and the higher death gratuity would be retroactive to Oct. 7, 2001, the date the United States launched its invasion of Afghanistan in response to the 9/11 attacks.
  Detroit Free Press article

It's a damned big raise from $12K to $100K. That should soothe your grief.