You are both so right on this.
The small amount we give the survivors of our deceased military personnel is simply pathetic when compared to what these surviving spouses received. I'm sorry they're having a rough time, but at least they are suffering in wealth. The spouses of our military often grieve in poverty.
As far as I am concerned, we do not give military widows [spouses] anything. The compensation they receive is, and should be considered, justified as part of the contractual obligation we as a nation incur in relationship to the service rendered our country by their husbands [spouses]. I agree that it is pathetically small -- but I consider it to be more than earned and not a gift.
SoS
The one thing that was particularly gruesome in all this, was how they calculated a persons worth.... A stock broker gets 8 Million while the Janitor gets 1 million. At least the military doesn't perform such gruesome calculations. A General killed on active duty gets the same as an E-1.
Also not mentioned in the article, particularly for the firefighter and the police officer..They were killed in the line of duty. Doesn't the city pay survivorship benefits? What about the poor schmuck officer shot dead by a drug dealer a few days earlier? How many companies paid survivor benefits on top of these generous settlements?
This whole thing set a bad precedent and was the Grim Reaper's lottery.