How to Fill Out and Submit the TSGLI Application (SGLV 8600)

To fill out SGLV 8600, you complete Part A with your identity, service details, a description of the traumatic event, and your chosen payment method, then a licensed medical professional completes Part B documenting the qualifying loss. You sign, gather your supporting records, and mail, email, or fax the package to your branch of service’s TSGLI office rather than to the VA.¹

The form is the application for Traumatic Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance, a tax-free lump sum between $25,000 and $100,000 paid to service members who suffered a qualifying loss from a traumatic injury while covered by SGLI.²

Confirm You Qualify Before You Start

Four conditions must all be true before the form is worth filing:

Your injury caused a loss listed on the TSGLI schedule (loss of sight, amputation, paralysis, severe burns, inability to perform activities of daily living, and similar).
The scheduled loss happened within 730 days of the traumatic event.
You survived at least seven full days (168 hours) after the injury.
The traumatic event happened before midnight on your separation date.

You were automatically covered by the TSGLI rider if you were paying into SGLI at the time. Active duty, Reservists, National Guard, and members on funeral-honors or one-day muster duty are all included.²

Certain injuries are excluded: intentionally self-inflicted, involving illegal drug use without a doctor’s advice, from medical or surgical treatment of a disease, sustained while committing a felony, or caused by a mental or physical illness rather than a traumatic event. Illnesses from wound infections, chemical or biological weapons, or accidentally swallowing a contaminated substance are exceptions to the illness exclusion.²

What to Gather Before You Fill Anything In

Every field on the form points back to a document. Pull these together first so you’re not stopping mid-form to hunt for a number.

Your Social Security number, which appears on every page of the form.
Your branch, rank, unit at the time of injury, and the exact service dates tied to the event.
Medical records that document the qualifying loss: operative reports, discharge summaries, and any neuropsychological evaluations.
Event documentation such as a police report, accident investigation report, or a line-of-duty determination from your command.
The name, specialty, office address, and phone number of the medical professional who will complete Part B.
If you want direct deposit: bank name, routing number, account number, and account type.¹

You can download the current form from the VA’s insurance website or pick one up from your branch’s casualty office.³

How to Fill Out Part A

Part A is the applicant’s section. If you’re the injured service member, this is your part.

Personal and Service Information

Enter your full legal name, date of birth, Social Security number, mailing address, phone number, email, sex, and marital status. Then record the branch you were serving in when the injury happened, along with your rank and unit. Write your SSN legibly and consistently on every page it appears.¹

The Traumatic Event

Confirm you were covered under SGLI when the injury occurred. Then describe the injury itself: what happened, the date, the time, and the location. Be specific. Vague descriptions send the form back for clarification.

Five yes-or-no questions follow, covering the exclusions above: self-inflicted injury, illegal drug use, disease treatment, felony commission, and illness-based conditions. A “yes” on any of them disqualifies the claim. Read each question before you check a box.¹

Payment Method

Choose one of three ways to receive the benefit:

A Prudential Alliance Account, an interest-bearing draft account in your name against which you write drafts. Funds are available immediately. It is not a bank account and is not FDIC-insured.
Electronic Funds Transfer to a bank account, typically credited within three to five business days of authorization.
A paper check mailed to a street address (no PO boxes).¹

An optional box requests financial counseling alongside your benefit. Sign and date the form when the section is complete.

If the Service Member Cannot Sign

A guardian, power of attorney, or military trustee can complete Part A for a medically incapacitated service member, but only when the medical professional confirms the incapacitation on Part B and the representative attaches proof of appointment. Guardians and conservators attach copies of their appointment letters. A power of attorney attaches the POA document. A military trustee attaches a completed DD Form 2827 with Section III signed and the TSGLI applicant named.¹

How Part B Gets Completed

Do not fill in Part B yourself. Once Part A is done, hand the form to the licensed medical professional most familiar with your injury.

The provider identifies which scheduled loss category applies, records the date the loss began, and states whether the loss is permanent or ongoing. For brain trauma and other conditions that affect daily functioning, the provider documents which activities of daily living you lost and for how many consecutive days. TSGLI recognizes six ADLs: bathing, continence, dressing, eating, toileting, and transferring. You must have lost two or more of the six to qualify under the ADL category, and the consecutive-day count restarts if you regain the ability to perform an ADL and then lose it again.⁴

The provider signs Part B and lists their credentials. If a guardian or trustee filed Part A, the provider must also confirm on Part B that the service member is medically incapacitated.¹

Where to Send the Completed Form

The finished package goes to your branch’s TSGLI office, which verifies personnel records and SGLI enrollment before adjudicating the claim.¹

Army: U.S. Army Human Resources Command, 1600 Spearhead Division Avenue, Dept 420 PDR-C (TSGLI), Fort Knox, KY 40122-5402.³
Navy: Commander, Navy Personnel Command, Attn: PERS-00C, 5720 Integrity Drive, Millington, TN 38055-1300.⁵
Marine Corps: HQ Marine Corps, Attn: WWR-TSGLI, 1998 Hill Street, Quantico, VA 22134.¹
Air Force and Space Force: AFPC/DPFCS, 550 C Street West, Joint Base San Antonio–Randolph, TX 78150-4716. Email: AFPC.DPFCS.Pol_Trng_CaseMgt@us.af.mil. Phone: 800-525-0102 (Option 2, then Option 1).¹
Coast Guard: Commander, Personnel Service Center, Attn: PSC-PSD-FS, U.S. Coast Guard Stop 7200, 2703 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave SE, Washington, DC 20593-7200.⁶

What Happens After You Submit

Your branch’s TSGLI office reviews the form, confirms your SGLI enrollment at the time of the event, and evaluates the medical evidence against the schedule of losses. Processing usually takes several months; the Army has reported an average of roughly 120 days. Complex cases and incomplete documentation take longer. You receive a determination letter by mail or through your branch’s electronic portal.

If approved, payment goes through the method you selected on Part A. EFT deposits typically arrive within three to five business days of authorization, Prudential Alliance Account funds are available immediately once the account is set up, and checks go to the address on file.¹

If Your Claim Is Denied

You have one year from the date of the denial letter to appeal.⁷ The letter tells you where to send the appeal and whether to use VA Form SGLV 8600A. Appeals go back to your branch’s TSGLI office or its higher appeal authority by mail, fax, or email.⁸

If you have new evidence, such as an updated medical report, a police report that wasn’t in the first submission, or a supporting statement from someone who knows your condition, attach it and check the box on the appeal form describing what the new evidence supports. Cite specific page numbers or report dates. Resending documents the office already has slows the review.⁷ A guardian, power of attorney, or military trustee filing the appeal includes appointment documents as they would with an initial claim.

One boundary worth knowing before you file anything: if you were injured between October 7, 2001, and November 30, 2005, and were previously told your case fell outside TSGLI’s operational window, that restriction has been removed. The same SGLV 8600 form goes to your branch as a retroactive claim. And if you were denied for a loss the 2023 expansion now covers (limb reconstruction, inpatient care at critical care, rehabilitation or skilled nursing facilities, or therapeutic passes), file a fresh SGLV 8600 rather than appealing the old denial.²

1
Department of Veterans Affairs. Application for TSGLI Benefits
2
Veterans Affairs. Traumatic Injury Protection (TSGLI)
3
MyArmyBenefits. Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance Traumatic Injury Protection (TSGLI)
4
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Understanding TSGLI ADL Standards
5
Navy Personnel Command. Traumatic Injury Protection Under SGLI
6
U.S. Coast Guard. Field Support – TSGLI
7
Veterans Affairs. File A TSGLI Appeal (VA Form SGLV 8600A)
8
eCFR. 38 CFR 9.20 – Traumatic Injury Protection