Sequestration

Today (yesterday for most of you by the time you read this), the Department of Defense notified Congress that it intends to put 800,000 civilian employees on furlough beginning April 1. Through September 30, all but the most essential government employees will not work one day per week and they will not be paid for those lost days. That's a 20% pay cut. We are so thankful that the active duty military aren't being furloughed, but this is going to affect a lot of people we know directly, and we will most certainly be affected indirectly. Teachers at the base schools will be furloughed--they are working on how to implement the furlough without affecting educational progress and accreditation. Commissary trips are going to be more trying--fewer people stocking, fewer people doing checkouts. Jip has the largest contingent of US civilians at SRF--the CO is meeting with them and the rest of the USCS tomorrow to tell them how SRF will implement the furlough.

In addition to furloughs, costs are being cut everywhere. All of Jip's training (and everyone else's) has been cancelled. Stateside, ship maintenance is being cancelled and deployments are being cancelled. Here, because we are forward-deployed, they are trying harder to maintain maintenance budgets and ships' schedules--ships here are all that the US will have to respond to a geo-political crisis or natural disaster because the other ships won't be able to move due to no money and lack of readiness.

A lot of what could be cut simply can't be because of Federal laws that govern contracts. So, instead of ordering fewer Joint Strike Fighters, they are going for the low hanging fruit of personnel and maintenance.

While they are not supposed to touch military pay, to include PCSing to next duty locations, we have already heard that detailers are holding off on cutting orders, particularly overseas orders. We are crossing our fingers that this isn't true and that we will still get to rotate back to the States before the end of the year--but, we are preparing, at least in our heads, for the possibility of being involuntarily extended should the sequestration really last the rest of the fiscal year.

Of course, DoD isn't the only agency preparing for furloughs. Everyone is. I just read an article about how air traffic controllers, TSA, and Customs will be furloughing nearly everyone, too. Longer lines at the airport are coming. Even longer waits on hold for calls to VA or Social Security are coming--there will be 20% fewer people answering the phones. Every single person will be touched in some way, shape, or form by the sequestration.

I'm sure all of you join me in hoping Congress will come back from their recess and put at least some stop-gap measurements in place, and then lock themselves in a room and not come out until they figure out how to make Government function again.