Displaced Military Families Can Seek Safe Haven Within United States

WASHINGTON, Sept. 7, 2005 – Military family members ordered to evacuate military installations in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama due to Hurricane Katrina are now authorized to select an alternate safe haven anywhere in the continental United States, defense officials confirmed today. David S. C. Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, announced the new policy in a memo sent to the service secretaries Sept. 1.

The authority applies to family members whose housing was declared uninhabitable following the hurricane, Chu wrote.

Families affected by the policy qualify for up to two months of advance pay, and military family members will receive safe haven allowances for up to 180 days after arriving at their alternate safe haven location, Chu wrote.

Allowances will be paid in accordance with the Joint Forces Travel Regulation, with calculations generally following rules for temporary duty travel: the actual cost of lodging, plus a separate meal and incidental allowance, explained Air Force Lt. Col. Al Bruner, from Chu's office.

Family members age 12 and over will receive travel pay and 100 percent of the per diem for their safe haven location for the first 30 days, Bruner said. DoD will pay full travel costs and 50 percent of the per diem rate for family members under age 12.

For more information, servicemembers should contact the Defense Finance and Accounting Service's 24-hour, toll-free hotline at (800) 756-4571 and request option 6.

Fellow Freepers:

At the suggestion of writer Michelle Malkin last Friday, I have cobbled together a blogsite called Texas Clearinghouse for Katrina Aid to serve as a clearinghouse for refugee efforts in Texas.

Texas is getting more refugees than any other state -- that's fine, we'll take them all -- but we need help providing them with food, clothing, and shelter.

If you are a refugee, you can information that will help you find relief. If you want to donate or volunteer, you can find someone who needs you.

Right now the site mostly covers Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas but I will add various churches, schools, and other charities in Lubbock and Austin tonight. My wife was down at Reunion Arena in Dallas yesterday handing out care packages and spiritually ministering to the refugees as a representative of her employer. She says that the situation is tragic and that there's a lot of work to be done. There are so many children who don't know where their parents are or even if their parents are still alive.

There are a lot of churches and other organizations in Texas that need help in dealing with the problem and I would appreciate it if you would get the word out.

Many thanks,

Michael McCullough

Stingray blogsite

... Families affected by the policy qualify for up to two months of advance pay

"Advance pay" does not equal a $2000 debit card, now, does it? Second class citizens aren't all black, but they are all the military families...

These families are required to pay for their suffering, while NO responders are lounging in Las Vegas on the gum't tab... while the military guys are working for them!

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