Full-time or part-time: which SGLI do you have?
Full-time SGLI goes to Ready Reserve and National Guard members who are assigned to a unit and scheduled to perform at least 12 periods of inactive training per year. Full-time means what it says. You are covered in your civilian life too, not only at drill.
There is a second route. If you are in a nonpay status, you can still qualify if you are scheduled for 12 periods of inactive training for the year and you are drilling for points rather than pay. In that case you pay your premiums directly rather than having them come out of pay.
Part-time SGLI is what you may have if you are a Reserve member who does not qualify for full-time coverage. It is narrower, and it is tied to your duty status rather than covering you around the clock.
Here is the honest part: the VA does not publish the detailed conditions of part-time coverage on its main SGLI page. If you are not certain which one you carry, do not guess and do not assume. Confirm it with your unit.
What it costs, and the amount
The maximum is $500,000, available in $50,000 increments. The premium is 5 cents per $1,000 of coverage per month, plus $1.00 a month for Traumatic Injury Protection (TSGLI). At the full $500,000 that is $26.00 a month total.
The beneficiary detail that catches part-timers
This one is specific to your situation and it is easy to get wrong.
If you are covered under full-time SGLI, you make and change beneficiary designations through the SGLI Online Enrollment System, reached through milConnect.
If you are covered under part-time SGLI, that system is not your route. You complete form SGLV 8286 instead.
Members switch between statuses over a career and keep using the method that worked last time. Check which one applies to you now, then verify your designation actually reflects what you want. The rules that govern who gets paid are in how to name your beneficiaries.
The gap most Guard and Reserve members miss
Your civilian job likely offers group life insurance, and between that and SGLI you may feel covered twice. Both have the same weakness: neither belongs to you.
Leave the job and the group coverage ends. Leave the Guard or Reserve and your SGLI enters the same 120-day wind-down every separating member faces, with the same deadlines after it. The dates are in the SGLI timeline, and the case for coverage you own is in group vs individual life insurance.
The exclusion to check before you buy private coverage
Here is the Guard-specific fine print. Some private policies carry war or aviation exclusions. For a civilian buyer that clause is background noise. For a drilling member who could mobilize, it is the whole ballgame.
Two things are true at once, and you need both. Many mainstream policies no longer carry a war exclusion at all. And you cannot assume yours is one of them.
So before you sign any private policy, read the exclusions section and ask the direct question in writing: does this policy pay if I die on orders? Ask the same about travel on non-commercial aircraft, which is a separate clause and a real one for aircrew. The VA programs do not carry a war exclusion, which is a genuine point in their favor for anyone still exposed.
If your specialty involves flying, expect a flat extra rather than a decline. That is a fixed dollar charge per $1,000 of coverage per year rather than a percentage increase, and it is often removable if you stop the activity.
Building the right stack
For most drilling members the plan looks like this:
- Keep your SGLI. It is inexpensive, it has no war exclusion, and it covers you around the clock if you are full-time.
- Treat employer group coverage as a bonus, not a foundation. It ends when the job does.
- Put a level term policy you own underneath both, checked for war and aviation exclusions.
Your own policy does not care whether you drill, deploy, change employers, or hang it up next year. Size it with how much life insurance you need, and see what to compare in how veteran term life quotes work.
Your next step: get the free guide, "Leaving the Service: Your Life Insurance Decision Guide." It applies to Guard and Reserve transitions too. Prefer a shortcut? Take the quiz, Which Coverage Fits You?
Sources: VA, Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (va.gov/life-insurance/options-eligibility/sgli/); VA, Servicemembers' and Veterans' Group Life Insurance Handbook, paragraph 6.02 (benefits.va.gov/insurance/docs/SGLI-VGLI-handbook.pdf). Accessed August 15, 2026.