By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
Civilian employees at Little Rock Air Force Base still don’t know when their furloughs will kick in, according to John Arlo Taylor, a base spokesman. Taylor should know — he’s one of those civilians, whose hours and pay will both be reduced by about 20 percent, probably starting sometime this month.
About 800,000 civilians work for the military, with about 650 at the base.
The furloughs were to have started around March 1, but the Pentagon delayed the implementation to study the impact and implementation.
The furloughs were triggered by the inability of Congress to come to a budget agreement, and it will cost the Defense Department an estimated $46 billion for the fiscal year.
Since sequestration became law, Congress has allowed certain areas, such as the military, to shift funds around.
Sequestration cuts at the base include reorganizing the four wings at the base to increase savings through efficiency in organizing and training the airmen, according to Brig. Gen. (Select) Brian Robinson, 19th Airlift Wing commander.
As commander of the premier C-130 base in the world, Robinson is responsible for the personnel who operate and maintain more than 90 C-130 aircraft, while providing for the health and welfare of more than 12,000 personnel and families at the base.
The base will continue “to act and operate in a fiscally responsible manner while maintaining a high level of readiness and excellence,” Robinson said.
The base has curtailed non-readiness or non-mission-essential flying and travel, curtailed or stopped minor purchases such as furniture and information technology upgrades, implemented a civilian hiring freeze and decreased temporary-duty aircrew travel, according to Lt. Mallory Glass, chief of communications for the wing.
The 19th Airlift Wing is cutting flying hours by 35 percent.
The Air Force, Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard have collaborated to reduce active-duty C-130s by 28, and both of the 19th Airlift Wing’s C-130H squadrons were proposed for reduction in fiscal year 2014.
But increases in the Air Guard and Reserve airframes at the base add eight planes.
The air base will continue to receive new C-130Js as originally scheduled, according Glass.
Officials have said the base will probably have fewer old C-130s, but Sen. John Boozman (R-Arkansas) has said he hopes procurement of state-of-the-art C-130Js will continue as planned.
Currently six C-130Js and 10 C-130-J variants are included in the proposed 2014 defense budget.
There is no indication in the budget how many if any of those are destined for Little Rock Air Force Base, but the crews and maintainers for those planes will be trained at the base’s C-130J school house.
Throughout the Air Force, actions will include curtailing non-readiness or mission essential flying and travel, curtailing or stopping minor purchases such as furniture and computers, deferring non-emergency facility maintenance, restoration and modernization, implementing a civilian hiring freeze for all non-mission positions and releasing non-mission temporary and term employees at the end of their term for term employees, according to the statement.
