SC Guard mans Washington missile defense positions

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — More than 200 soldiers from the South Carolina National Guard are manning a missile defense system to protect the nation’s capital from aerial threats.

The ring of surface-to-air missile positions has been in place since the Sept. 11 terror attacks in 2001.

The State newspaper in Columbia (http://bit.ly/1H7J8vO ) reports that the 263rd Army Air and Missile Defense Command based in Anderson is on a yearlong deployment that started in April to protect Washington, D.C. It’s the fourth time the unit has done the job in the last 10 years.

Maj. Gen. Glenn Bramhall, a Spartanburg native who commands the 263rd, said each battery has eight Stinger missiles and many are on rooftops in Washington. The number and location of the positions are restricted information.