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| Bill would help military families |
| (Columbia-AP) -- South Carolina military
families could get some extra help under a bill pre-filed today by
state Senator John Courson. The South Carolina Military Family Relief Fund is intended to help families with the cost of food, housing, utilities, medical services or other expenses that occur when a wage-earner has temporarily left his or her job to be placed on active military duty. Lieutenant Colonel Pete Brooks with the South Carolina National Guard says the money won't make up for lost income, but is instead a relief program for unexpected costs that come up. Brooks says there are 92-hundred people in the Army Guard and more than 12-hundred in the Air Guard in South Carolina. Of those, 2100 have been deployed. The bill would provide grants to families of those South Carolina National Guard members and residents serving in the Reserves of the U.S. Armed Forces who were called to active duty after the terrorist attacks on September Eleventh, 2001. Lawmakers will discuss the bill when the General Assembly reconvenes next month. |