How will sequestration effect ROTC?

WienerDog

West Point Class of 2018
5-Year Member
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Jun 5, 2012
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A lot of press coming out in regards to TA (tuition assistance) being cut for all branches and NROTC summer cruises being suspended. Is there truth to it? Any other info. in regards to cuts for current and/or future ROTC's?
 
A lot of press coming out in regards to TA (tuition assistance) being cut for all branches and NROTC summer cruises being suspended. Is there truth to it? Any other info. in regards to cuts for current and/or future ROTC's?

I've certainly seen Navy presentations online that indicate summer training will be cut for all Midshipmen. My boy gets home for Spring Break tonight so I hope to pump him further on the topic. I definitely know he was already told back in January that it was being considered. There is already another thread on the TA cuts. Seems to me I saw an article on it last week as well. Unfortunately I'm sure there is more to come. I don't mind the summer training cuts, although I'm sure my DS does... but I figure he can pick up whatever he would miss (Mt. Warfare) later in his career. The TA cuts are just unfair and I view them, somewhat, as a breach of contract :mad: ... although I'm sure it's not actually in any contract anywhere.

And despite my ranting and raving... it's all similar to what's been going on in the civilian world for years. In some sense it's time the Feds caught up.
 
I know that staff in the ROTC departments (that are not military) in schools are being furloughed or having their days cut back.
 
Latest from DS regarding NROTC Sequester

DS got home tonight for Spring Break and here's the latest he knows about NROTC sequester effects:

1. Memphis Drill Meet was cancelled. OK maybe not everyone is interested in this one.

2. NROTC freshman orientation is scrubbed... perhaps for a very long time. Freshman O will now consist of early morning and late afternoon classes the week they report to school but before classes start. Much more like AFROTC now in that regard. DS and his shipmates who are here are all bummed about it. They think Freshman O is necessary and Navy will see that when folks hit the fleet. I still believe the weeding out process will occur but in some other fashion.

3. Still no definite word on whether summer training will be cancelled although we all expect it will.
 
Just joining in to offer my rumors :wink: and stay up on what everyone else is hearing. My son was told (NROTC) through his unit that most likely everything other than firstie cruises would be cancelled as of a couple weeks ago. He did say that the firstie (senior) cruise was mandatory for graduation/commissioning? However, he then texted over the weekend saying that he needed all his passport info to submit for his cruise requests (he's a current sophomore) and that they were told they should know about their cruises in the next couple weeks. No clue if they're planning just in case or what the real situation is.
 
Had my DS's friends over to the house last night. One, a sophomore AROTC scholarship student, announced he is going on a "humanitarian" mission to Africa this summer. He told us that after a lot of noise about cancelling the mission, they got the word to get all paperwork in asap and he successfully navigated that process. He has heard the total number of ROTC students going has been decreased but the mission is still on.

He also advised that his unit is still planning for summer cruises but no firm word that they will take place. He surmises that they will but fewer slots will be available.

Sounds to me that all the branches are still scrambling to figure this out.
 
DS also was told to be certain passport was in order and had to complete all security clearance paperwork by end of February. We surmised this is due to the incertainty; if the cruises do happen this paperwork would need to be complete and can't easily be done last minute.
 
It is such a shame that our government can not agree on responsible cuts. I don't know any details abou the impact, but I do know that the future leaders of our nation's armed services should NOT be shortchanged on training or experiences.

My big question is DoDMERB. Since most are civillians in that office, I have a feeling things could come grinding to a halt due to furloughs.

ZAL
 
My big question is DoDMERB. Since most are civillians in that office, I have a feeling things could come grinding to a halt due to furloughs
Unless the entire DoDMERB department is furloughed, I don't think things will come to a "grinding" halt. Applicants will just have to have more patience and start earlier.
 
And we need to take care with the word furlough. Seems to me the Feds are using it in the context of people taking a 20% paycut and reduction in work hours... whereas back in my day it referred to a 100% reduction in work hours and a corresponding pay cut.
 
To be clear, the furlough for DOD Civilians (Non-essential) is one day per week for 22 weeks, for now. This commences on April 1 and the day off is to be a Friday or Monday.
The day off is without pay and workers may not use any leave or sick time for the day off. The 22 weeks takes them to Sept 1 after which they will revise/update according to the situation.
 
Hubby is AF civilian and his research lab will be one day off per week for 22 weeks. It will be a rotating schedule so not always M/F so the lab won't have to close. Also noticed DS's AFROTC scholarship monthly stipend will be 250$ seems that it was $300 in the past? Not sure if that is related to sequestration?
 
Hubby is AF civilian and his research lab will be one day off per week for 22 weeks. It will be a rotating schedule so not always M/F so the lab won't have to close. Also noticed DS's AFROTC scholarship monthly stipend will be 250$ seems that it was $300 in the past? Not sure if that is related to sequestration?

What, really?? Is your DS already in AFROTC or will he be joining in the fall? I'm in my 1st year now and currently my stipend is $300 per month ($150 every 2 weeks)
 
Also noticed DS's AFROTC scholarship monthly stipend will be 250$ seems that it was $300 in the past? Not sure if that is related to sequestration?

My son's AFROTC paperwork that came in the mail in December notified him that his (incoming freshman) stipend will be $250 per month, instead of the $300 that freshmen currently get. So that change was made long before the sequestration scramble started.
 
What, really?? Is your DS already in AFROTC or will he be joining in the fall? I'm in my 1st year now and currently my stipend is $300 per month ($150 every 2 weeks)

Everyone's stipend is going down next FY in AFROTC. Your pay will most likely stay at 300.
 
My son is currently a frehsman on scholarship and his stipend is still $300/month. But we are still waiting for his tuition to be paid for this semester :0 Not sure what is taking so long this time. It's been 2 months since the semester started.
 
Since nobody is answering, I will step in for a second...please feel free to pm me if you want.

1. The stipend was determined way before the sequestration. Remember scholarships awards started coming out in Dec.

2. Stipend changes every yr for the cadet.
I.E. an AS400 makes more than a 100, 200 or 300.

3. The tuition not being paid yet.
Have your child talk to the 1st shirt ASAP. Colleges typically lock students accounts if they are short, and fall semester registration will probably be occurring very shortly.

As a parent, if you have access to their college account, contact the Bursar at the same time to make sure they won't lock their account.

Trust me, this happened to our DS, as a scholarship recipient. We only got involved with the Bursar and Financial Aid Office. It was basically a day out of my life because the school was saying this is not a Bursar issue, but FA issue. FA was saying it was a Bursar issue. In the end, for his school, it was FA since it was a scholarship. They had to unlock it, DS had to walk over to the FA and than the Bursar with a letter from the det. to prove he had the scholarship for him to register for the fall.

We left it up to him to get that letter from the det. We dealt only with the school. I had it unlocked for him before he got the letter.

It was absolutely the most stressful point of his college life. This occurred when he was a rising junior...classes were closing. Time was our enemy.

Contact the Bursar to see if they are going to lock their account. If not, don't worry. If so, than be a tag team...have him get AFROTC paperwork as proof, you contact the college...starting with the Bursar.

He should be able to log on as a student to see if he is locked.

Sequestration has no impact on not paying. It is paperwork.

OBTW, back on topic...DH (Bullet) will be furloughed 1 day a week at the Pentagon. Totally different than psychedmom. They get to choose which day...he took 22 weeks of Fridays. Some took 22 weeks of Mondays. In essence, 95/395/495 will no longer be bumper to bumper traffic starting at 6 a.m. :biggrin:

The real problem is AFROTC, AFA, DoDMERB, DFAS have civilians! Bullet took Friday, but what if his counterpart takes Monday. IOTW, T-TH is the new work week.

Imagine the slow down. Also realize that FY ends Sept 30th and GS can only carry X amount of days. They get comp time too. Bullet could actually use his vacay, comp, personal, sick days and furlough to take off 3 months. He would never do it because he bleeds AF Blue, but you all get my point.

Sequestration for AFROTC scholarship will not impact them, mainly because it is really only for FY13. That money was spent. Here is the impact IMPO for AFROTC:

SFT---the board met @ the same time as sequestration. They may have decided to go small this yr., and allow 200's to become 500's. Previous yrs that didn't happen.

Commissioning 2013 --- especially rated

AFROTC grads are not ADAF. They have no health care unless they buy it via Tri-Care. They don't have a paycheck until they report.

203K flight hrs, repeat 203,000 flight hrs will be cut. 2012 rated officers are just starting UPT/UNT right now after 8 months of casual status. AF expects to run out of money for flying by Sept 1st. 2012 will wing later, which means for 13 their IFS/UPT start date will be much later.

OBTW 203K flight hrs = on avg 100 K sorties=flights.

AFROTC will be impacted IMPO, but it is not this yr I think the hit will happen regarding scholarships...2018 is the one that they will be able to jig/jag because it will be FY 14.

Sequestration is 7 months and limited options for FY13. FY14 is 7 months away and AFROTC may be the target when they have to still cut BNs.

Remember the 1st cut...dets were closed.

Sorry I am being negative, but I am only posting this to remind everyone AFROTC scholarship is only truly guaranteed for 2 yrs. SFT should be the concern for every AS100/200 and applicants.

Sequestration will only impact you when it comes to paperwork.

It took me everything to come back, but I couldn't let this thread assume that sequestration is impacting posters. It just isn't IMPHO. The decisions were made before March 1st.


Always and forever...AIM HIGH...ABOVE ALL

Chiming out again. PM me if you want. Otherwise I hope Agagles, Christcorp, flieger and Stealth will step in. I will never leave any of you, hence why I had to chime in. However, it appears sequestration fears are running amok.

It is going to have issues, but come Oct 1st those in the system will see it change. Sequestration made the DoD cut their FY13 budget 6 months in...hence drastic cuts. FY14 knows what they have to cut 7 months out and can do it appropriately with a well thought out direction instead of a knee jerk reaction.

There will be an impact, but we need to let the chips fall before we assume sequestration has an impact on AFROTC.

It kills me to post, but it killed me more to think that posters in the system believed this was tied to sequestration. Those being furloughed were given 60 days notice. End of April is when we will start seeing the impact.
 
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Thanks Pima - we definitely appreciate the insight. Following for NROTC but knowledge of all branches is helpful!
 
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