Posted on 07/13/2013 4:41:58 AM PDT by markomalley
About 650,000 Defense Department civilians began doing their part this week to save the department nearly $2 billion — by not coming to work. They’re not exactly enthusiastic about pitching in.
But they found things to do. Some strategized ways to cut their own budgets, while others took the opportunity to formally protest their furloughs. According to the Merit System Protection Board, which adjudicates disputed personnel actions by the federal government, nearly 900 federal employees, including DOD workers, had filed appeals as of early Thursday.
Others worked out some of the frustration through exercise.
“On a normal day, I’d be working on combating terrorism in South Asia,” said Christine Smith, a civilian employee in the Office of the Secretary of Defense who was furloughed Monday. “Today, I’m going for a run.”
Smith was one of dozens of Pentagon workers who met Monday afternoon for a 5-mile “fun run” from the building’s north parking lot to the U.S. Capitol. But organizers unceremoniously cut it a mile short to symbolize the 20 percent pay cut imposed by the one-day-per-week furlough, which could run through September.
“That’s a mortgage payment each month that’s being lost — it’s very significant for my budget,” she said. Before jogging away, she added that she planned to make up some of her personal deficit through a renewed devotion to her hobby: extreme couponing.
Congress wouldn’t win any popularity contests among the furloughed.
“I hear many people complaining about the pay reduction, the decrease in leave earned and the retirement effects,” said Chett Forbus, a Navy veteran who is now a DOD civilian in Maine. “Those are the cold, hard effects of the bigger problem: elected officials.”
Forbus said he and his family now must “carry the burden of the inaction” by Congress and the president. Luckily, he said, he saw it coming and he and his family have been cutting expenses for the past year.
“We have saved everything that we could, canceled vacations, cut services, combined services, changed the way we grocery shop, basically just pinched the penny wherever we could,” he said. “We will survive because of proper planning. The overwhelming, scary part of this is the same elected officials have done nothing to prevent this from happening again.”
DOD civilians overseas are feeling the same pinch — trying to make the best of their involuntary free time, and worried about where it’s all headed.
The first of 11 furlough days were to begin Friday for colleagues Nancy Hines, Dee Trigilio and Gemmel Bagley, U.S. government civilians employed by the 86th Force Support Squadron on Ramstein Air Base, Germany.
The trio said they are taking the weekly mandatory pause from work and 20 percent pay cut in stride, and plan to tackle unfinished projects at home or to spend time with their children.
Hines, 54, plans to do yard work and car repairs, while Trigilio will transfer family photos to CDs and Bagley will stay at home with her children, ages 9 and 12.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Hines said. “I’m normally one who doesn’t take leave. Now there’s time to do your own ‘honey-do’ list, take advantage of day trips.”
They’ve found ways to tighten their budgets and have put off big purchases and family vacations. If it is necessary and strengthens the country, they can take it, each said.
“We’re doing our part to help,” said Trigilio, 44.
But it’s easy to be optimistic now, before some of the unknowns have become reality, the women said. They worry about how much extra work will pile up in their absence, about squeezing 40 hours of work into 32-hour weeks, and about actually making do with less income when the smaller paychecks start rolling in and medical premiums don’t budge.
They haven’t had a pay increase since 2010, and performance appraisal incentives for this year are likely on hold. Bagley, 42, is hopeful the furlough is a stopgap measure and won’t be repeated.
“To punish us again for next fiscal year would be the ultimate wrong,” she said.
Hines doesn’t see how it won’t happen again. “The budget is supposed to be less, that’s the rumor,” she said.
Hines said she’s worried about broader effects of furloughs. “What kind of signal are we sending to our adversaries when we’re having to furlough our civilians, when we’re not doing training or TDYs?”
For some DOD civilians, the furloughs are causing them to question the assumptions they’ve built their lives on.
When Rik Thibodeau, a Vicenza, Italy-based Army civilian, learned earlier this year he’d soon be losing workdays, he called a family meeting.
“I took my wife and my older kid aside. I sat everyone down and we had a talk,” said Thibodeau. “We basically talked about cutting back anywhere we could, even keeping the lights off when we’re not in a room.”
Thibodeau originally was attracted by the stability of government work, but said he is pondering whether he’d be better off in the private sector.
In addition to furlough cuts, he’s one of 600 overseas employees who face the loss of housing allowances because of an error by human resources officials that has indebted those workers for past payments received.
“The government has taken so much from me. When we get back to the States, I’m thinking about looking into another career field,” said Thibodeau, an operations planner for U.S. Army Africa. “Maybe I’ll go back to school and get my masters in something.”
I know there are a whole lot of slugs working as DOD civilians, but I've also worked with some outstanding folks. It sure would be nice if the civil service system would allow them to dump the slugs...
No, I'm not holding my breath.
Meanwhile the IRS employees...................and the future hirees................
Quotes in this article show a childish disconnect with the real world amongst civilian employees. It’s highlighted by a tremendously inflated sense of self, whining, and blame shifting.
Yeah but there’s money to send to bearded savages so they can kill other bearded savages and Christians and Jews.
$2 billion savings ?
Close the Departments of Education and Commerce...
waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
too bad
you all are part of the problem
I had dinner with a bunch of former military and most of them were double dipping, really pixed me off
I would be a lot more impressed except:
The sequester affects future income not current. Money for the last quarter of FY 2013 was allocated in later FY 2012 or early FY 2013.
The sequester affects increases in the FY 2014 (Oct 2013 - Sept 2014) budget not the budget itself.
The impacts of the sequester were ordered, by the White House, to have the maximum impact on both groups and individuals. No cost center was allowed to manage the impacts - it was top down directed. This explains why certain elements and cost centers continue to spend while other, more visible cost centers are cut (White House Tours, 4th of July Fireworks, Aerial Demonstration Teams, ....).
In about two months we will see the annual, dating back to the 1970s, spending splurge that comes at the end of the fiscal year. This annual event happens when every cost center through out the Federal Government endeavors to spend every penny from the current year’s budget so they will get their baseline budget increase for the following year. The theory is if they don’t spend every penny they can expect a reduced budget the following year.
While I can not speak for the other services I do know that the AF goes on a buying binge including such mission essential items as wide screen, 50 inches or more, for every colonel who doesn’t already have one. At $ 2,000 a pop times the number of new colonel that runs into some “interesting” money AF wide real quick. And, unfortunately, that is not the only example.
A lady who is a Civilian Paramedic got 3 calls with the volunteer rescue squad yesterday she would have missed if she hadn’t been sequestered.
It was nice having her ,but the sequestration is BS, especially when the White House Vacationer is spending millions flying all over the world making an ass of himself.
I would agree with you, if the entire federal government had been furloughed, but DOD is getting the worst of it. Department of energy, education, welfare recipients??? Nothing!
You think “double dipping” is wrong? Then get congress to rewrite the contract. Go ahead and eliminate military retirement altogether. See what kind of military you get, mkay?
TC
I finally understood why so much of our evaluations were based on playing well with others. A few un-fireable psychos can ruin an operation.
Oh yeah, and the ones I saw were women and minorities. I was there long enough to see them get promoted out.
yes leatherneck, I love the military but we out here who are the ones supporting all this stuff can’t afford it for military officers to then start collecting their retirement, go to work for the federal government as a GS 11 or 12, retire from there, collect retirement, collect social security, collect cost of living increases on all three, chit man, why don’t you take some of that lucre you have gained from the taxpayers’ blood sweat and tears and start a manufacturing plant or factory? We who are paying for all this are self paying our health insurance, driving cars that are 10 years old, and y’all are giving us government services we don’t want, and enforcing on us as part of your job in the executive branch regulations by the bushelfull that we don’t want. How about becoming part of the solution instead of part of the machine that is killing the goose that lays the golden eggs?
I am in the middle of a 30 million dollar upgrade project and most of our upgrades take place on Friday. We are mandated to complete the project by 12/31.
So what happens? We go to implement on Friday and where is my civilian contractor? On furlough every Friday for the next 2 1/2 months. That’s at multiple sites. We asked to implement another day and the government said no.
Idiots!
Nobody really believes the situation could be them until it IS them. Wouldn't it be nice if everyone upon finishing their education (whatever level) were given $100 or so start-up money and told they have to figure out how to survive for a year?
waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
I am trying to upgrade the education of my kids and really don’t give a rat’s axe about the government wasting 30M on some “mandated” computer upgrade.
Sadly, you're right.
Gov cannot have furloughs year after year. Those DoD workers be ready for an offer to retire in coming fall/winter, because a reduction in force is coming in 2014 if not enough people take early retirement. Since Congress is evenly divided, and a looming fiscal crisis threaten our nation via huge debt and dollar printing, action has to be taken. If Congress is unwilling to take cuts and allow others no cuts, then across the board cuts is the next best thing.
All thinking Fed workers should have saw this coming and adjust their personal finances accordingly. The age of austerity is upon the gov. If they think it is tough now, they haven’t seen anything yet.
By your standards, I am a serious threat. I served 32 years in the military, 28 years earning a corporate pension, am taking social security having contributed since 1964, and I am still employed. Yeah, I am a serious threat to you!
Your, Sir, are a lawyer and shouldn't be allowed to breed! Okay, enough hypocrisy back at you?
I don't see any of the gimme crowd being part of the solution. They are not getting 20% of their freebies withheld...but then, they vote RAT and they give lawyers lots of business.
By your standards, I am a serious threat. I served 32 years in the military, 28 years earning a corporate pension, am taking social security having contributed since 1964, and I am still employed. Yeah, I am a serious threat to you!
Your, Sir, are a lawyer and shouldn't be allowed to breed! Okay, enough hypocrisy back at you?
I don't see any of the gimme crowd being part of the solution. They are not getting 20% of their freebies withheld...but then, they vote RAT and they give lawyers lots of business.
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