Anyone else affected by Sequestration?

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wildcatmom

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DS is a SMP cadet. His 6 MUTA drill this weekend has been cancelled. They were told the reason was Sequestration cuts...I am surprised that, except for PIMA, no one else has mentioned the term sequestration lately...His unit has a lot of other issues at the moment (A large % of them mobilized in September and the remainder are being split up to other units), so I wonder if they are using this as a convenient excuse to save money?

On the AROTC side of things, he said their Fall FTX will take place as scheduled. Unfortunately, the activities will be severely curtailed just as the class curriculum has been. He feels bad for the MSI's and MSII's who are missing out on the experience.

Has anyone else had a similar experience?
 
DS is SMP and they had their MUTA 6 as scheduled this past weekend then will turn around and have their October drill this weekend.

He mentioned they were still have their Fall FTX but not sure of the extents of it or when it is scheduled for.
 
I don't know how the budget system works fo the SMP cadets, but I know for the AF that the end of September is when many times the jets stand down the last few days because they ran out of money.
~ It is not an OMG, it has been done this way for years. The reason why is every base will submit a budget and the Wing Kings want to make sure that they prove to HQ they need more money....see we ran out of funds and had to stand down because of it!

Its working the system to get a bigger cut of the pie, not necessarily sequestration. Not saying it wasn't part of the sequestration, just saying it has happened in the AF for decades!

I know there have been a ton of articles regarding the AF and the impact. The latest one was the Super at the AFA was discussing that because of the sequestration cuts they already know that their budget will be impacted. She is looking at what they can do with a lower budget creating the lease impact on the AF.
 
DS is a MSIV SMP cadet. The Ohio units were all told no September drill due to "running out of money". Labor Day weekend the story changed and apparently they found money and everyone had drill 9/27-9/28...DS was excused(along with all the cadets in his BN) since AROTC had a big weekend event and all the cadets were detailed for this. Drill resumes for most units 10/4.

His BN is having their FTX at a new location that will require overnight travel, so I don't think the budget is being cut down there. In the past they typically traveled 1/2 hour away from campus to a large state park and used it for the weekend. The new location is 2-3 hours away so just the fuel involved in transporting all the equipment plus cadets will be higer....

Not too worried about the state or school level cuts/budgets...only number I'm real concerned about now is how many 2LTs are going to be needed active duty for the class of 2015. :thumb:
 
I was surprised to hear some battalions are still calling it FTX. My son's battalion has told them it has been changed to something called a LTX, they are planning theirs now. The LTX will take place on a Friday, will be about 8 hours long and will not include an overnight. They said that this is part of the new revised ROTC curriculum.

We went to Dad's Day at my son's school last weekend, happened to run into the new LTC in town and had a nice conversation. The LTC seems very happy with the new curriculum and the new replacement for LDAC as well as the CIET. He made a comment that almost surprised me, he said he was glad there was less focus on Land Nav, his comment was that Land Nav is taught heavily at the branch specific BOLC's that require it, and it shouldn't be such a large part of the accession points. He really liked the new format for the MS4's, my son would agree with that, he has enjoyed the new classes even though they can be a bit dry sometimes but thinks it will better prepare them when the commission to do the daily duties of a new JO.

I guess time will tell but for now things seem to be rolling smoothly at his battalion. They did have to cut the river rafting trip they usually did with the whole battalion the first weekend of school....budget cuts.
 
Thanks for your replies.
DS had his Sept. drill 9/6 and 9/7. The one that has been cancelled was the first drill of FY15 (10/4-10/6)...Guess we will see if they add on a day to each one the next few months.

Ohio: That is our concern also...for the next 7 weeks! It is hard for him to get motivated to carve out time for the career services center when you anticipate having the job lined up.

Jcleppe: Our BN has probably changed the name as well--DS does not always fill me in on the specifics. Location will be same as last Fall (about 3 hours away), and still three days/two nights. He also has a new LTC, so while DS is not excited about writing papers for class, I'm sure cadre's fresh eyes will help facilitate the curriculum change implementation that CC has in mind.
 
+1 JCleppe, DS' battalion ordinarily left for FTX Friday 3pm returned Saturday 11 pm, most recently left Saturday 3 am returning Saturday 9 pm, avoiding the overnight.
 
FTX name change and all the curriculum changes (less land nav, etc.) came straight from the top. They want a lot less focus on anything tactical. Soon you will also see the cadre transition to teaching in Class B's other than when they go to the field. The changes coming will be interesting to watch. Glad I'll be watching from the other side.
 
DS said the same thing, glad he's a IV this year.

However, since he is an ECP cadet, even though he'll commission in May he won't go thru accessions for 2 more years. He's been told that any of the "standardized" testing they do btwn now and then the ECP 2nd LT's will have to take also. Should be interesting.

He took some sample tests at LDAC and said he didn't see the point of them.
 
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