Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance Traumatic Injury Protection (TSGLI) is a rider to Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (SGLI) that provides automatic traumatic injury coverage to all service members under the SGLI program. The TSGLI rider provides payment to service members who are severely injured (on or off duty) and suffer a loss as the result of a traumatic event. Effective October 1, 2011, the Veterans' Benefits Improvement Act of 2010 removed the requirement that injuries during the retroactive period must be incurred in Operation Enduring or Iraqi Freedom. Qualifying service members who receive a TSGLI payment can spend the money at their own discretion.

Expanded TSGLI Benefits
On April 14, 2023, TSGLI expanded benefits for these types of care:

• Limb reconstruction surgeries
• Inpatient hospital care at critical care facilities, rehabilitation facilities, and skilled nursing facilities 
• Care to help you transition from an inpatient facility to living at home (called a therapeutic pass)

If you are eligible for TSGLI for these types of care or if your claim was denied in the past, you can file a claim now.
For more information about expanded TSGLI benefits, review the TSGLI loss standards.

Retired Airmen are not eligible for TSGLI as they are not eligible for SGLI. Click here to see the SGLI fact sheet.

You may be able to get TSGLI if you were insured by SGLI when you experienced a traumatic injury, and you meet all of the requirements listed below.

All of these must be true. You: 

• Have a scheduled loss that is a direct result of the traumatic injury, and
  

• Suffered the traumatic injury before midnight on the day that you left the military, and

• Suffered a scheduled loss within two years (730 days) of the traumatic injury, and

• Have survived for a period of not less than seven full days from the date of the traumatic injury (the seven-day period begins on the date and time of the traumatic injury and ends 168 full hours later), and

• Were an active-duty military member, a Reservist, a National Guard member, on funeral-honors duty, or on one-day muster duty

TSGLI is also provided retroactively to service members who incurred a qualifying severe loss as a result of traumatic injuries incurred between October 7, 2001, and November 30, 2005, regardless of the geographic location where the injury occurred, and regardless of whether they had SGLI coverage at the time of their injury.

Injuries excluded from TSGLI

To qualify for TSGLI, none of the descriptions below can be true of your injury.

None of these can be true:

• Your injury can not be self-inflicted on purpose or the result of an attempt at self-injury, or

• Your injury can not involve the use of an illegal drug or a controlled substance that was given or taken without the advice of a medical doctor, or

• Your injury can not be the result of medical or surgical treatment of an illness or disease, or

• Your injury can not occur while you are committing or trying to commit a felony, or

• Your injury can not be the result of a physical or mental illness or disease (not including illness or disease caused by a wound infection; a chemical, biological, or radiological weapon; or accidentally swallowing a contaminated substance)

TSGLI website maintained by the Veterans Affairs (VA):
https://www.va.gov/life-insurance/options-eligibility/tsgli/

Online Resource for Americans with Disabilities:
https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/disability

Air Force Wounded Warrior (AFW2) TSGLI:
https://www.woundedwarrior.af.mil/About/Documents/Display/Article/1570841/sgli-traumatic-injury-protection-program-tsgli/