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Traditions threatened by cuts, military academies brace for impact
Reuters
March 28, 2013
By Gabriel Debenedetti
NEW YORK (Reuters) - United States military academies have trained
America's future presidents, astronauts and generals, one of them for
more than 200 years. But the schools' illustrious histories are not
enough to spare them from looming budget cuts from sequestration, and
they are preparing to furlough civilian employees, reduce training,
delay construction and even scale back pomp and ceremony.
The full extent of how, and when, the cuts will affect the nation's
five service academies is not yet clear. However, representatives of
the U.S. Military Academy, the Naval Academy, the Air Force Academy
and the Coast Guard Academy pointed to some potential effects.
They said the more than $1 billion expected to be cut from Defense
Department training and recruiting could mean everything from
furloughs of thousands of civilian employees to delayed construction
to the suspension of programs like band tours and educational trips.
No one at the Merchant Marine Academy could be reached for comment.
"We haven't had anything close to this" level of budgetary restriction
in the past, said Air Force spokesman Meade Warthen.
The Naval Academy's director of media relations, Jennifer Erickson,
said about 1,500 non-contract civilian employees at the school could
face cuts in their work hours.
"We are deeply concerned about the negative effects of furloughs on
the morale and effectiveness of our valued civilian workforce,"
Erickson said, also noting the potential effects on the home city of
the academy, Annapolis, Maryland, and on the region surrounding the
academy.
Naval Academy summer training is under budgetary pressure, and
Erickson said semester abroad programs could be canceled. Sixteen
educational international summer trips - involving 170 students
planning to go to Armenia, Chile, China, France, Georgia, Italy,
Japan, Oman, Russia and Spain - were axed, and fifteen international
spring break programs for 73 students had already been canceled.
Erickson also said faculty travel would be reduced and that the
academy has already pared its admissions outreach program, with
implications for future classes of midshipmen.
At West Point, the Military Academy will downsize its Summer Leaders
Experience program for high school students, which can be the first
step for some students on their way to admission to the competitive,
tuition-free school.
Other cuts are already being implemented: At least two of the
academies have imposed hiring freezes and West Point has postponed the
construction of its first new dormitory since 1965, slated to house
650 cadets, according to the Poughkeepsie (New York) Journal.
Francis DeMaro of West Point's public affairs office also pointed to
"travel restrictions, a hiring freeze, reduction of family and
community programs, and an impending furlough" of more than 2,000
civilian employees.
Travel restrictions related to cadet training have also hit the Coast
Guard Academy, said school spokesman David Santos.
Other student programs have been hit hard too, with the Air Force
Academy's band forced to cancel all of its national public concerts.
Even graduation ceremonies will display a bit less pomp and
circumstance. The Thunderbirds Air Force Demonstration Squadron was
forced to cancel its 2013 season because of the sequestration and will
not perform flyovers at the Air Force Academy graduation parade and
ceremony in May, according to a March 8 Academy release.
The Academy also canceled its annual Independence Day fireworks show
due to budgetary concerns about sequestration, according to a March 21
statement on the USAFA website.
While the academies wait for further details on exactly how their
14,000 students will be affected, local politicians are lobbying to
see if they can soften the blow.
U.S. Representative Sean Patrick Maloney, whose district includes West
Point, tweeted on Wednesday that he had sent a letter to President
Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel urging them to find a
"commonsense plan" that would reduce the impact of the sequester on
the Defense Department's 800,000 employees.
"In these difficult economic times, I know that we must all make
sacrifices," wrote Maloney in the letter. "But our middle class has
made enough sacrifices; our federal workforce has made enough
sacrifices; our military and seniors have made enough sacrifices; the
staff and students at West Point have made enough sacrifices."
(Reporting by Gabriel Debenedetti; Editing by Arlene Getz, Jennifer
Merritt and Steve Orlofsky)
From: A. Papazian
Reuters
March 28, 2013
By Gabriel Debenedetti
NEW YORK (Reuters) - United States military academies have trained
America's future presidents, astronauts and generals, one of them for
more than 200 years. But the schools' illustrious histories are not
enough to spare them from looming budget cuts from sequestration, and
they are preparing to furlough civilian employees, reduce training,
delay construction and even scale back pomp and ceremony.
The full extent of how, and when, the cuts will affect the nation's
five service academies is not yet clear. However, representatives of
the U.S. Military Academy, the Naval Academy, the Air Force Academy
and the Coast Guard Academy pointed to some potential effects.
They said the more than $1 billion expected to be cut from Defense
Department training and recruiting could mean everything from
furloughs of thousands of civilian employees to delayed construction
to the suspension of programs like band tours and educational trips.
No one at the Merchant Marine Academy could be reached for comment.
"We haven't had anything close to this" level of budgetary restriction
in the past, said Air Force spokesman Meade Warthen.
The Naval Academy's director of media relations, Jennifer Erickson,
said about 1,500 non-contract civilian employees at the school could
face cuts in their work hours.
"We are deeply concerned about the negative effects of furloughs on
the morale and effectiveness of our valued civilian workforce,"
Erickson said, also noting the potential effects on the home city of
the academy, Annapolis, Maryland, and on the region surrounding the
academy.
Naval Academy summer training is under budgetary pressure, and
Erickson said semester abroad programs could be canceled. Sixteen
educational international summer trips - involving 170 students
planning to go to Armenia, Chile, China, France, Georgia, Italy,
Japan, Oman, Russia and Spain - were axed, and fifteen international
spring break programs for 73 students had already been canceled.
Erickson also said faculty travel would be reduced and that the
academy has already pared its admissions outreach program, with
implications for future classes of midshipmen.
At West Point, the Military Academy will downsize its Summer Leaders
Experience program for high school students, which can be the first
step for some students on their way to admission to the competitive,
tuition-free school.
Other cuts are already being implemented: At least two of the
academies have imposed hiring freezes and West Point has postponed the
construction of its first new dormitory since 1965, slated to house
650 cadets, according to the Poughkeepsie (New York) Journal.
Francis DeMaro of West Point's public affairs office also pointed to
"travel restrictions, a hiring freeze, reduction of family and
community programs, and an impending furlough" of more than 2,000
civilian employees.
Travel restrictions related to cadet training have also hit the Coast
Guard Academy, said school spokesman David Santos.
Other student programs have been hit hard too, with the Air Force
Academy's band forced to cancel all of its national public concerts.
Even graduation ceremonies will display a bit less pomp and
circumstance. The Thunderbirds Air Force Demonstration Squadron was
forced to cancel its 2013 season because of the sequestration and will
not perform flyovers at the Air Force Academy graduation parade and
ceremony in May, according to a March 8 Academy release.
The Academy also canceled its annual Independence Day fireworks show
due to budgetary concerns about sequestration, according to a March 21
statement on the USAFA website.
While the academies wait for further details on exactly how their
14,000 students will be affected, local politicians are lobbying to
see if they can soften the blow.
U.S. Representative Sean Patrick Maloney, whose district includes West
Point, tweeted on Wednesday that he had sent a letter to President
Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel urging them to find a
"commonsense plan" that would reduce the impact of the sequester on
the Defense Department's 800,000 employees.
"In these difficult economic times, I know that we must all make
sacrifices," wrote Maloney in the letter. "But our middle class has
made enough sacrifices; our federal workforce has made enough
sacrifices; our military and seniors have made enough sacrifices; the
staff and students at West Point have made enough sacrifices."
(Reporting by Gabriel Debenedetti; Editing by Arlene Getz, Jennifer
Merritt and Steve Orlofsky)
From: A. Papazian