In the Line of Duty? A Primer on Line of Duty Determinations and the Impact on Benefits for Soldiers and Families

摘要

It looked like an open-and-shut case: two U.S. servicemembers found dead in Ghana, each lying unresponsive in their hotel room after a night of partying to bring in the New Year, with heroin, cocaine, and alcohol detected in their bodies. The Ghanaian authorities ruled that the deaths were caused by abuse of drugs and alcohol without involvement of any external factors indicating foul play. Even so, the command investigation that followed determined that both servicemembers died in the line of duty as opposed to as a result of their own misconduct. The rationale was simple-how much did their families stand to lose?