Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Report details possibility of 145 cuts at Montana Air National Guard

The Montana Air National Guard could lose 145 positions in fiscal year 2013, according to an Air Force manpower report released Tuesday, but the state's U.S. senators say that after accounting for temporary positions, the permanent reduction could be less than half that amount.

The 213-page Fiscal Year 2013 President's Budget Force Structure Announcement states that MANG would lose one active-duty position, 45 drilling Guardsmen, 39 active Guard and Reserve positions and 60 technician/civilian positions in fiscal year 2013. Those numbers are based on the president's proposed defense budget, which has not yet been approved by Congress.

However, according to an email from the office of U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., many of the 145 proposed reductions at MANG could be temporary positions that originally were added to support an air-alert status mission in Hawaii while a base there transitions to new aircraft. Those positions were always expected to be eliminated after that mission ends. The email states that the total reduction of permanent positions at MANG would be in the "ballpark" of 60 technicians, under the current proposal. The email also notes that no proposed defense budget has been passed without changes.

There are no planned military cuts at Malmstrom Air Force Base, according to the report, though 15 civilian positions would be eliminated under the proposal.

Maj. Tim Crowe, chief of public affairs for the Montana National Guard, said a reduction in MANG personnel was expected as a result of the planned conversion from F-15 fighter jets to C-130 cargo planes over the next two years. However, the number of positions proposed for elimination was not known until Tuesday.

"This is a pretty fresh document for us," Crowe said Tuesday night. "It's going to take us a while to understand exactly all that is in this document."

In a letter addressed to Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley that was to be sent today, Baucus and Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., ask for clarification on the proposed reductions at MANG. Specifically, they ask for confirmation that the temporary positions created for the Hawaii mission are among the reductions in the proposed budget.

The senators also ask for information on how manpower will change from FY2013 — after the current F-15 mission is transferred — to FY2014, when eight C-130s will begin arriving at the base on Gore Hill.

"We request a better understanding of how the manpower authorization will change from FY13 levels described in this document to FY14, when the C-130 aircraft arrive and begin requiring a full team of pilots, maintainers and other support staff," the senators wrote.

Crowe said regardless of the number of positions cut, it will be difficult to eliminate those positions because there is a person attached to each one.

"To us, these are faces inside this document," he said. "These aren't just numbers on a page to us, they are trained airmen, they are part of our organization.

"We don't take a document like this very lightly," Crowe added. "We will do everything necessary to minimize the impact to all of the airmen up at the 120th Fighter Wing."

He said that while the manning document lists the general categories where the proposed reductions would take place, guidelines on the specific positions that may be eliminated aren't expected until additional proposed manning documents are released in April.

"Those are kind of the things we just don't know what that means," he said. "Certainly you have an urge to speculate, but that's not what we need to be doing at this point."

http://www.greatfallstribune.com

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