Looks like even today, that only applies to fully vested active duty
members...
"If you are on active duty, retirement-eligible and have a spouse
and/or children..."

That just seems so strange to us civilians. If something were to happen
to me, my wife gets my 401 and the balance of the contributions to my
work retirement program, even though I'm only in my 30's (I could
actually cash them all out myself right now, I'd just have to pay tax
penalties)
Seems strange that military members who die before they fully vest in
the retirement just lose all their retirement.

-Robert