Fort Rucker to see reduction of flight hours, AFS to lose up to 300 employees

A 20 percent reduction in the number of aviation soldiers trained by Fort Rucker set for the 2014 fiscal year is causing waves throughout the civilian workers that support the post’s flight-training mission.

According to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), Fort Rucker will be reducing its flight hours by about 20 percent, or 49,000 hours of the original 250,000 total hours for the fiscal year.

L-3 Communications/Army Fleet Support could see as many as 300 jobs lost due to the reduction.

According to a statement released Oct. 25 from the Grievance Negotiating Committee of the IAM, the projected reduction in manpower will be approximately 250 to 300 employees, incrementally, with the first round of notices being delivered as early as this week.

The number of employees subject to layoff may increase or decrease as a final analysis of the requirements is determined by the Army and Army Fleet Support.

The statement said the company intends to work with the “customer” on delaying the effective date of the layoffs and the feasibility of an early retirement program.

More details regarding the layoffs will be made available by IAM later this week.

AFS and the GNC are urging its members to contact state and federal representatives to let them know about the upcoming layoff.

The reduction of flight students trained will also likely have an impact on the number of civilian contract employees working as flight instructors.

“Representative (Martha) Roby is in close contact with Army leadership in Washington and the post to stay up to date with the latest information,” said Todd Stacy, communications director for Roby. “As you know, Martha consistently fought drastic military cuts, even bucking her party’s leadership to vote against the bill that resulted in sequestration. The real issue is setting priorities. When the government spends more and more money on ever-growing domestic programs, there is less and less money to fund other national priorities, particularly the military. If we don’t tighten the reins on mandatory spending programs then the military budget will continue to shrink. That will undermine our armed forces’ ability to protect this country and hurt military families.”

Jonathan Graffeo, communications director for Sen. Richard Shelby, said Shelby was also firmly against sequestration and believes “Congress should make targeted decisions to control spending and not rely on a meat axe like sequestration.”

“As vice chairman of the appropriations committee he has advocated for a smarter approach, and will continue to do so,” Graffeo said.

Alabama Rep. Barry Moore said the cuts are a direct result of cuts from Washington.

“It’s a result of Washington’s focus on things besides the nation’s defense,” Moore said. “It’s unfortunate and we’re going to keep fighting locally. It’s certainly going to impact our economy. There’s a lot of small businesses in the area that depend on Fort Rucker...It’s hard to predict what kind of economic impact we can expect.”

Moore said defense and infrastructure are important to keep a nation strong and the priorities of the administration are very different.

“As sequestration and fiscal irresponsibility from the Obama Administration take a toll on the hard working families here in the Wiregrass, I will continue to do whatever I can to bring new jobs and opportunities to our area.  I worked hard on passage of a bill that would help our aircraft manufacturing sector and have fought for tax cuts for small businesses to allow them to hire more employees,” Moore said.  “I have also spoken with Governor (Robert) Bentley and Secretary of Commerce (Greg) Canfield about making sure Coffee County is a priority for economic development.  Right now, we need all hands on deck when it comes to creating jobs.”

Alabama Sen. Jimmy Holley agreed saying it’s a terrible thing to happen not only for Southeast Alabama, but the nation.

“I would hope Congress would see fit to properly fund the flight training at Fort Rucker,” Holley said.

According to a statement from Fort Rucker, released Oct. 28, the Department of the Army is continuing to make tough budget choices and Fort Rucker will see its own share of budget decrements that will affect the number of student pilots trained in the 2014 fiscal year.

“As part of these decisions, Fort Rucker will see a budget decrement of $138 million, which will result in a decrease in the number of aviation soldiers trained by approximately 20 percent,” the release said. “At this time, the number of Department of the Army civilians is not expected to change.”

The release said a reduction of student training will have an impact across the spectrum of training at Fort Rucker, both initial entry and advanced aircraft training.

“However, the graduate level courses such as instructor pilot and maintenance test pilot, etc., have not been affected,” the release stated. “The goal for USAACE is always to produce the most professional and proficient Army aviators in the world. That will continue as we remain relentlessly focused on the sacred trust between Army aviation and the ground commanders.”