This
article is provided courtesy of Stars & Stripes,
which got its start as a newspaper for Union troops during the Civil War, and has been published continuously since 1942 in Europe and 1945 in the Pacific. Stripes reporters have been in the field with American soldiers, sailors and airmen in World War II, Korea, the Cold War, Vietnam, the Gulf War, Bosnia and Kosovo, and are now on assignment in the Middle East.
Stars and Stripes has one of the widest distribution ranges of any newspaper in the world. Between the Pacific and European editions, Stars & Stripes services over 50 countries where there are bases, posts, service members, ships, or embassies.
By Patrick J. Dickson Stars and Stripes European Edition
Illinois Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn displays
a state income tax form that allows individuals to make tax-deductible
donations to a fund to assist military families facing reduced
income due to the deployment of Guard and Reserve families.
Quinn and four other state officials spoke at the National Press
Club on Wednesday (Joe Gromelski, Stars & Stripes photo).
WASHINGTON — Families of many deployed Guard and Reserve troops are
hurting financially, and many of their state legislators are moving
to make that a thing of the past.
On Wednesday, five lieutenant governors held a news conference to
announce a drive to create Military Family Relief Funds in states
across the nation.
“We cannot allow the citizens of our states who are serving their
country to fall into financial ruin while they are in Iraq, facing
harm … while they are protecting us,” said Calif. Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante.
Each fund is designed to provide grants to families of National Guard
and Reserve soldiers on active duty who are facing reduced income
and financial hardships. Grants ranging from $500 to $2,000 will help
military families in need to cover expenses such as rent, utilities
and medical expenses.
Many National Guard and Reserve soldiers earn less in active duty
than they do at their regular place of employment. Also, some private
and public employers do not always make up the difference between
soldiers’ military pay and their civilian pay.
The model for other states to follow is the Illinois Military Family
Relief Fund, championed by Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn and signed into law
in February 2003.
“The force in Iraq is estimated to be about 40 percent reservists
and Guard members …. This is unheard of in our country; unprecedented,”
Quinn said. “A lot of times, the military pay is quite a bit less
than the civilian pay that someone was making.”
Quinn offered an example of one soldier whose wife and three sons
saw a 70 percent cut in his pay.
“It’s pretty hard to make ends meet when you have such a decline in
your family income.”
Illinois Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn displays
a state income tax form that allows individuals to make tax-deductible
donations to a fund to assist military families facing reduced
income due to the deployment of Guard and Reserve families.
Quinn and four other state officials spoke at the National Press
Club on Wednesday (Joe Gromelski, Stars & Stripes photo).
Bustamante said that 10 percent to 20 percent
of the 9,000 California families with a deployed servicemember are
seeking some form of emergency assistance.
A check-off box on the current Illinois income tax return allows individuals
to make tax-deductible donations directly to the fund. Begun with
state and voluntary support, $829,000 has been distributed in grants
to more than 1,800 military families in Illinois, so far.
South Carolina, California and Pennsylvania are initiating legislative
efforts to allow private donations through income-tax check-offs for
grants to the military families in need.
The total number of National Guard and Reserves called to active duty
at this time is 189,859.
Quinn has created a Website, Operation
Home Front, describing how citizens on the home front can help
soldiers fighting around the world. The site has registered more than
4.3 million hits, Quinn said.
