Are you prepared

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Michael Cote
  • 39th Communications Squadron commander
INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey --  The 39th Communication Squadron recently experienced two tragedies. The first was a young Airman who was seriously injured in a car accident and the second was one of our contractors who passed away after suffering a long-term illness. As our unit and base agencies came together to help families and friends through the difficult time, I was reminded of how important it is to plan ahead. I urge you not to use youth, difficulty of discussing these issues or other excuses to stop you from being prepared.

While nothing can take away the traumatic nature of these events, you can remove additional stress for those left behind. This begins with ensuring your emergency contact information is current and accurate.

Your virtual record of emergency data or vRED lets commanders know who you want notified in the event of a serious accident, illness or death. Keeping your vRED up to date ensures information is passed quickly to those you identify. Once notified it is important your friends, family and base agencies know your wishes. These need to be documented in a will.

A will is a legal document specifying who takes care of your children, who gets your personal effects, financial arrangements and many other items. If there is no will, the decisions will be left up to a legal/court process. Unfortunately, their choices may not align with your wishes. There are also living wills which provide instructions to doctors and family in the event you are unable to make medical decisions for yourself. Wills take care of many details but you can also help ensure financial stability through life insurance.

If you are active duty, you are already covered by Serviceman's Group Life Insurance unless you specifically rejected it. However, it is important your SGLI accurately reflects your desired amount of coverage and the correct beneficiaries.

A recent active duty death within USAFE proved how one family was affected by SGLI coverage leaving the 20-year-old pregnant spouse with $50,000 following a vehicle accident. Unfortunately, her staff sergeant husband declined full SGLI when it automatically increased to $400,000 and took formal action to lower his coverage to only $50,000. Although the family discussed increasing the amount of coverage due to the pregnancy, action was not taken in time.

Your supervisor or first sergeant can help if you have questions on any of these matters. They can also point you to base agencies that can assist with planning, explanation of benefits and establishing or updating your information.

Everyone's situation is different and this article is certainly not all encompassing, but I hope it serves as a reminder to get and keep your affairs in order. No one plans to get seriously injured, ill or pass away, but you can plan for what happens after to help those left behind.