Pentagon bracing for 30% reduction in Army base operations

Hotair ^ | 01/23/2013 | Ed Morrissey

[elpadre]

cut the required dollars out of the civilian force and the consultants. How much do taxpayers compensate Harvard for all the whiz kids they engulf DOD with??

[elpadre]

You are on target Nelson - right on!!!

[onedoug]

And the so-called conservatives - the majority - in the House are going along with all this?

[rbg81]

I think he’s depending on his civilian agency, the DHS, and all the rest .....

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Bingo. But that’s not all. Don’t forget the Unions and the Entitlement “Clients” in the inner city. This unholy trinity is Obama’s real army. If, at some point, there’s wide scale rioting, don’t assume the Government will be on the side of those defending their property, businesses, or even their lives. In fact the opposite is true. Armed, law-abiding people are likely to be prosecuted for civil rights crimes against “the People”. And, of course, the MSM will brand these people as reactionary racists. The DOD, which still leans conservative and is sworn to uphold the Constitution, will be castrated.

[Pentagon Leatherneck]

"The people who are really going to take it on the chin are the DoD contractors." No. The first to feel sequestration will be DoD civilians, who will take a one-day per pay period (2 weeks) furlough. Leave without pay. A 10% pay cut. Contractors may feel the pinch later this summer, but nothing immediate. TC

[NELSON111]

True. I kinda of, and I know incorrectly, lump DoD civilians into the same category (and i realize I shouldn't). Many are, IMO, contracted out to do the jobs we no longer do. Our airmen used to do chow hall duty...now it's civilians. Our finance used to be 100% military, now we have some civilians. Many of our assistants used to be young airmen...now they are GS-6's.

But yes...they will feel it first. I just got out of 2 meetings where we spoke on furloughs and TDY decreases and freezes. There will be a LOT of DoD Contractors (not vested GS employess but guys who are on a year to year contract) to get non-renewed. There will also be a lot of companies not hiring or laying off people because their DoD $ dries up. I almost got out at 20 and took a contractor job that was renewed year to year...but did not for this very reason.

[Vineyard]

Civil Servants who are employed by the Federal Government have DEFINED BENEFITS plans.

Up to 1984, new federal employees entered the Civil Service Retirement Service (CSRS) Pension plan - which allowed about 2% per year times average of highest 3 years salary (and any OT or special pays would not be computed.) Someone who retired with 30 years at age 55 would be able to get 55% of their base salary as a retirement benefit. (They contributed the equivalent of a social security payment - about 6.1% - and did not pay into social security, and got no social security credit for their work.)

Because the program was considered a bit too generous - in 1984 - new employees went into the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) - where they would get 1% per year times an average of their highest 3 years salary (again, no OT or special money awards would be added in). They would pay 1% of their salary, and they also paid into Social Security and would be eligible to draw social security.

Both programs are considered ‘contracts’ and benefits could not be taken away. But - the FERS program can be modified for new workers. Starting this January, new employees will have to contribute 2.7% (IIRC - it might be 2.9%) for their FERS benefit instead of the 1%, and all federal workers who started before Jan. 2013 have their program unchanged.

Now - both CSRS and FERS are ‘nice’ programs - nicer than many programs available to the private sector at this time, but these programs are far less lucrative than some State/County/City programs in certain states. Consider some government retirement programs in California where workers might be eligible for a 3% per year of their final year’s salary (INCLUDING Overtime!!) ...and they can retire as early as age 50. So one might get 30 years x 3% x base + OT (a value that might be 30% - 50% higher than normal) - so that from age 50 to perhaps 85 - their retirement salary is greater than their base pay ....and it gets Cost Of Living Adjustments.

In My Opinion - it is not the FERS program that is as much of a problem; the real problem is the BLOAT and growth of government programs. The Federal government has BLOAT. For every DoD program that might need trimming back - there are probably a dozen non-DoD programs that should be ABOLISHED. The size of the Federal Government has grown significantly under Barack Obama - but the DoD hasn’t been growing ... so there are other areas that should be cut back.

In the Federal Government under Barack Obama - the number of high level supervisors (GS-13/14/15 and Senior Executive Service ...SES-1/2/3/4) has grown significantly. Work hasn’t become more efficient - and supervisors and managers are harder to fire than general government workers, who are almost impossible to fire. Hard workers are not rewarded for working efficiently...and ‘management’ doesn’t seem to want to find methods to improve productivity and do more with less, because it means that their own private ‘rice bowls’ would get smaller - which is less desirable than growing an empire.

[backwoods-engineer]

I want to reduce the military's budget even more, along with every other budget (as though there are any). We need at least a 50% cut, baseline, across the board in the Federal government.

I'd even set the military's budget at $0 if they are going to be used to round up gun owners.

The Constitution is no longer operative, people; why would we pay for Obama's private Army? The states better get used to operating on their own.

[Lou Budvis]

Obviously existing contracts cannot be changed, but incoming civilian employees should get a 401k, just like the majority of the private sector. No way should we be paying retirement pay at age 55.

[Vineyard]

There is formal information out that indicates that the Navy might have to execute furloughs that would start in mid-late March - and would require workers to take one day off without pay each week - or a 20% pay cut ...for 22 weeks. (This would be the same as 22 days off over 26 pay periods for a year - about a 8.5% pay cut for the year.)

But the other ramifications are more serious. For example - at the Naval Shipyards - all overtime work would be curtailed and the shipyards might work 4 days a week and take 3 day weekends (maintaining fire and security workers, and other work that can’t be shutdown ....). Then the deliveries of ships back to the fleet would be delayed, and this affects existing ships on deployments, etc.

There are probably other more serious issues that haven’t been discussed - but I am sure that they will emerge and bite the military in the a$$ ...to our detriment...but then again, I think that is 0bama’s plan.

[Pentagon Leatherneck]

" and would require workers to take one day off without pay each week - or a 20% pay cut ...for 22 weeks." Huh. That's slightly different guidance than was promulgated in OSD--much worse for the employee, of course. We were told it would be 22 days off in 22 pay periods. I share your concerns about the shipyards, etc. I assume all depots and other support installations would be in the same boat. So to speak. TC

[Vineyard]

The problem is that the pain (the cutbacks) must be for FY13, which ends on 30 Sept 2013. Since there was nothing done to manage cutbacks for the first 6 months of the FY ...then the pain is concentrated over the final 6 months of the FY.

BTW - there are only 26 pay periods in a year...and as noted - 1/2 of them will have already passed by when the furloughs are implemented.

Can we say totally eFF’d up?