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Then make damn sure that every single other vet gets fair compensation. Until then, he's just getting special treatment

...The U.S. government currently provides various forms of compensation to service members' survivors, including specific payments for such categories as burial, housing relocation, education and child support.

But gratuity payments and life insurance coverage are particularly important because they are a source of quick cash at a time when grieving families most appreciate the financial cushion.

The gratuity, introduced in 1908, had grown to only $3,000 by the time of the Persian Gulf War in 1991. It was raised to $6,000 after that war and boosted to $12,000 in 2003. At that time, Congress also made it tax-free -- before that, half was taxable -- and tied future increases to military pay raises.

Still, the payments have been dwarfed by government settlements averaging $2.1 million paid to families of those killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

As for life insurance, troops are covered under a group program that charges modest premiums. But some service members have elected to reduce their coverage, sometimes without notifying their spouses or next of kin. The new Pentagon plan would require such notification.

Retired Marine Col. Lee Lange, deputy director of government relations for the Military Officers Association of America, said his group was "pleasantly surprised" by the Pentagon's proposal. The association, which represents 368,000 current and former military officers and surviving spouses, has lobbied for larger survivor benefits. So has the Military Coalition, an umbrella group of 35 military organizations with more than 5 million members.

Lange said his organization and others had to fight hard to double the gratuity payment two years ago.

"We just couldn't get attention on the issue," he recalled.

Donna Gilmore of Stafford, Va., lost her husband, Sgt. Maj. Cornell Gilmore, the senior enlisted man in the Judge Advocate General's Corps, when Iraqi insurgents shot down the helicopter he was riding in on Nov. 7, 2003. She received $250,000 in life insurance, a one-time death gratuity of $12,000, and $1,600 a month in an indemnity and survivor benefits.

"The money doesn't go far, it really doesn't," said Gilmore, who sold a car, cut back her children's living allowances and is working overtime in hopes of staying in the family home.

Her greatest concern, she added, is that the existing level of death benefits will push young military widows and their children into poverty. "They should not have to live in abject poverty on top of the despair," she said in a phone interview.

its not odd,he is a republican,and that is what they do,steal.he did a lot of dirty things,started a major fire on an aircraft carrier,wrecked planes,left his wife for an heiress,and on and on and on.he was one giant cluster f--- in the service,the name gomer fits,and was remade to look like a hero.the guy is a joke,and we are at a point that we can no longer afford these republicans and their blank check policies,period.

What of soldiers with severe PTSD who get NO disability because they can still work?

Point is, if he gets a juicy disability check, and isn't bed ridden or missing limbs, then every single returning soldier should get such treatment. Yet they don't. See the point here?

You are way out of line and totally misinformed. What several of the other posts said doesn't begin to describe how much Senator McCain suffered.He was kept at the Hanoi Hilton which was the most brutal POW camp in Vietnam. He was flat tortured for six and a half years, many of his bones were broken(I think even both his legs) and he gave up nothing. There was a PBS( very f-ing liberal) documentary on the subject and even it acknowledged his exemplary service. In fact all he would have had to do to be released was sing like I am sure you would have, and they would have let him go. But he didn't and instead took 6+years of torture. So show some respect for a man that gave a great sacrifice for this country.