Furloughs concern Fort Rucker leaders

While the Army has reversed the course of sequestration for Fort Rucker flight training, many families are still concerned as 2,200 proposed furlough letters began going out last week to the post’s Department of the Army civilians.

The decision was made after senior defense leaders estimated about a $37 billion shortfall in the defense budget for fiscal year 2013.

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel announced last month the originally envisioned 22 furlough days, or unpaid time off, would be cut in half to 11 furlough days, but would still be necessary.

For Fort Rucker, the one day per week without pay would mean about 23 percent of the installation’s workforce would be affected, with exception to the post’s child development centers, non-appropriated fund employees and sexual assault/sexual response personnel.

“We don’t have a choice in the matter, but we know that some families are going to be affected by this,” Col. Stuart McRae, Fort Rucker garrison commander, said. “As we come up on those situations and we become more aware of those, we will do everything in our power to ease the situations with the tools that we have. We’re very sensitive to the fact that families will be affected.”

A release from the Fort Rucker Public Affairs Office said the furlough will impact the civilian workforce from July through September. The unpaid days for most civilian employees are set to take effect July 8.

McRae said all civilian personnel should have proposed unpaid furlough letters by June 5, and will have a 14-day grace period to request an exemption. 

While Fort Rucker leaders are concerned for those being affected, Col. T.J.  Jamison, United States Army Aviation Center of Excellence Chief of Staff, said they must also ensure that nothing impacts the overall training mission at Fort Rucker.

“We will still train five days a week,” he said. “We’ve enabled the commanders and the directorates to adjust the furlough schedule in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement with the union, but to adjust the furlough schedule to rotate those days through the workforce so there will not be a shutdown. We’re going to maintain to train the number of aviators that we have to train.”

McRae said while funding across the base operation is satisfactory for now, changes are still to be expected. 

The commissary will be closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, or Tuesday and Wednesday if Monday falls on a holiday, for the remainder of the 2013 fiscal year. The commissary will remain open for normal hours, Wednesday-Sunday. 

Defense Commissary Agency employees will have to take furloughs, however, the Army Air Force Exchange — which is under non-appropriated funds — is scheduled to keep its regular business hours.

Once the furloughs are in place, McRae said the Faulkner and Newton gates may also have to close part-time or completely as the gatekeepers will have a reduction in availability.

Currently, the Newton and Faulkner gates are open from 4:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m., Monday through Friday and closed on weekends and holidays. 

McRae said the two gates are convenience gates and there are five other access control gates that are necessary for support — the Daleville, Enterprise, Ozark gates along with Cairns Army Airfield and Shell Army Heliport. 

The Daleville, Enterprise and Ozark gates are open 24 hours, seven days a week.  

Right now McRae said he is uncertain what impact these changes will have, but stresses it is important to get the word out to the public, especially those who travel to the post.

The public is encouraged to check the Fort Rucker main website, Rucker.army.mil., for any more announcements or changes. McRae said residents are also urged to reach out to Fort Rucker officials if they need assistance. 

Fort Rucker will also be offering a number of services in an effort to assist the civilian employees.

Army Community Services will offer financial counseling and training seminars, while the food pantry will assist those in need of groceries. 

McRae said Fort Rucker officials will do their best to keep the community informed and will continue to look for ways to help those affected. 

“Like never before we are thinking outside the box to find ways that we can continue to do our mission and help our workforce out,” he said.

Post receives funding to restore training

The furlough notices came shortly after U.S. Rep. Martha Roby announced sequestration cuts to Fort Rucker flight training would be reversed thanks to additional funding flexibility. 

Army leaders, including Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno, had previously stated a $224.8 million budget cut from sequestration could result in 500 pilots and 37,000 flight hours being cut from Fort Rucker.

In March, Congress passed and the president signed into law the Consolidated and Further Appropriations Act of 2013, which Odierno and Roby credit for providing the Army with enough funding flexibility to restore aviation training at Fort Rucker.

“The restoration of funds to preserve 37,000 flight hours and 500 training positions at Fort Rucker is great news, especially in light of prior conflicting statements from the Army,” Roby said. “Aviation training is at the core of Fort Rucker’s mission so it is absolutely critical for the post that these training slots be funded.”

Though the cuts had recently been averted, Jamison said, senior leaders were analyzing the impacts and determining ways to mitigate the proposed $224 million cuts since December.

“We looked at what could we do here at Fort Rucker from a cost-saving prospective,” he said. “We flew for a lot less dollars than we had previously. We saved money on parts. We saved money by renegotiating some of the (civilian) contracts, and we also saved a lot of money from what we call no shows — the military sales, from the National Guard and Reserve and even some very small scale, active-component students, who were scheduled to come here for whatever reasons did not arrive.”

Jamison and Fort Rucker public affairs officer Lisa Eichhorn also noted the civilian contracts were up for renegotiation and were not impacted by furloughs or sequestration.

“There’s a lot of confusion in the community because AFS (Army Fleet Support) was laying off 50 people,” Eichhorn said. “That was their call. It had nothing to do with sequestration. That was just a bi-product of renegotiating the contract, and them deciding what right looked like for them.”

In an effort to assist with the budget deficit, Jamison said Fort Rucker officials were able to come up with about $112.3 million in cost efficiencies and savings.

“We then presented that to the Department of Defense to the Army, and said, ‘If you cut our decrement in half, we can still train an entire student load,” Jamison said. “From a readiness perspective on what was needed to fuel the force with, that was the right thing to do. We found $112 million in savings and they cut a decrement of $112 million. We are able to train our entire student load this year.”

Jamison said thanks to the efficiencies and the restorations of funds, Fort Rucker will be able to train the entire student load for fiscal year 2013 with no backlog going into fiscal year 2014. 

Jamison did caution, however, that without a budget and with the continuing resolution remaining, the future remains uncertain. 

“The efficiencies that we found will be enduring,” he said. “We will continue to harvest and execute those same efficiencies, but until we get a budget we just don’t know. We are continuing to turn over every rock to look for innovative and creative ways to find efficiencies.”  

While Fort Rucker officials are welcoming the good news, leaders said they are still concerned for Department of the Army civilians.

“The force that we have today in the Army across DOD is not just a green-suit force, it’s just as much a Department of the Army civilian force as it is green suit,” Jamison said. “The last 10 years of conflict have shown how heavily we rely upon our Department of the Army civilian workforce. So whatever the future holds it’s going to be a shared future between the green suiters and the civilians.”