Gallego Stands Up for Military Installations
Washington, D.C.: The House Armed Services Committee (HASC) yesterday held a hearing on sequestration and the perspective of the military services. Congressman Gallego, while addressing General Ray Odierno, Chief of Staff of the US Army, and General Mark Welsh, Chief of Staff of the US Air Force, asked about the importance of Department of Defense civilian employees. He asked the Generals to explain how sequestration and civilian furloughs affect uniformed military personnel.
During the HASC hearing, Gallego said, “I have the privilege of representing several military facilities – Joint Base San Antonio which includes multiple Air Force and Army components and Laughlin Air Force Base. And in El Paso County there’s Fort Bliss. They’re all very dedicated public servants both on the uniform side and the non-uniform side. They deserve better than what they’re getting… Our military shouldn’t be forced to choose between readiness today and a modern Air Force tomorrow.”
“Civilian employees play a tremendous role at our military installations,” added Gallego. Civilian employees routinely work in tandem with active duty military on mission critical training activities that keep our uniformed service members safe and well-prepared to meet our national security needs. The cuts to civilian employees as a result of sequestration hurt our country’s readiness.”
In his response, General Odierno gave examples of how sequestration is impacting military personnel and their families in San Antonio, TX. US Army Medical Command has “a huge responsibility to provide support to soldiers in combat and their families,” and “our civilians there play a huge role” in that Command. At San Antonio Military Medical Center, said General Odierno, “We have some concern. We are losing some of our critical civilian employees because of the furlough.”
General Odierno also noted that US Army North, which is headquartered in San Antonio, is “the Army component to provide homeland defense and homeland security for our nation.” While referencing all the military commands in San Antonio, General Odierno said, “They all have a key civilian workforce that is essential for them to accomplish their mission.”
General Welsh used Randolph Air Force Base as an example. The entire maintenance group at Randolph Air Force Base is civilian. Due to the furlough of civilian employees, 8 million man-hours were taken off the books. As a result of sequestration, noted General Welsh, “We lost the ability to support a number of flying hours equal to an entire pilot training class worth of work … We will look at changing our initial pilot production numbers next year because we learned that we’re going to have to cut a class whether we want to or not just as a result of lost production from the impact of the civilian workforce.”
“Everybody is frustrated because they would like to do their job – not just because they are losing 20% of their pay,” said General Welsh.
Addressing the mass shooting at Navy Yard in Washington, DC, Gallego also spoke to the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Jonathan Greenert, and said: “Every single resident of the congressional district feels your pain. On behalf of the constituency that I represent, I want you to know that our prayers are with you, with your fellow members of the Navy, and certainly with all of the families who have lost someone.”
