My sister in law and her husband lived in Ladson while he was an instructor in Nuke school. The housing was affordable, they own a three bedroom with a pool and large garage (with FROG) for about $180k. They have 13, 9, and 5 year olds in the school system with no complaints. I think he spent ~30 minutes each way to work with mostly interstate traffic. It could take up to 45 minutes to get all the way to waterfront Charleston (i.e. Market Street) but there were lots of BBQ joints and good restaurants much closer. Main grocery was BI-LO....a lot like a Winn-Dixie but cheaper. About 45 minutes to Lake Martha and camping/fishing outdoorsy type stuff.
I visited them at least a couple dozen times while they were there on a three year tour...it's not glamorous but I enjoyed it