Mission remains priority during budget cuts

Due to the current fiscal environment of our nation, the Department of Defense is facing sequestration, or automatic budget cuts, which threaten the capability of our armed forces. In the event there is no resolution, the Air Force will face a $12.4 billion shortfall for fiscal year 2013.

In an interview with Maj. Erik Dunn, 86th Comptroller Squadron commander, he discussed the current fiscal environment and proposed actions that the 86th Airlift Wing will take in the event of sequestration.

KMN: Sir, can you please explain the scope of budgets for which the 86th Comptroller Squadron is responsible.
END: The 86th CPTS manages the budget for the 86th Airlift Wing as well as the 435th Air Ground Operations Wing.

KMN: How much time have you and your office spent planning for the possible sequester on March 1?
END: We started really actively planning about mid-January, and I would say our financial analysis flight has spent the majority of every day since then doing some type of action whether it be running a funding drill, managing the funding authority that we’re operating under to working with units on purchases trying to curb spending, trying to come up with ideas on how the wing can curb spending and still obviously meet our mission requirements. It’s been pretty substantial.

KMN: Dr. Jamie Morin, the acting undersecretary of the Air Force has said, “Those cuts from sequestration, as has been said over and over again, are going to be devastating; they’re going to be dangerous.” How will these cuts devastate the wings and units here and why is this dangerous?
END: It is going to be devastating in a few ways. The first is we are under a civilian hiring freeze and so that slows down the hiring process. It creates more appropriated funds civilian vacancies in the unit. So it means that we have essentially fewer Airmen to do the mission.

The reductions in our travel budget are cutting pretty deep. It’s going to reduce our ability to conduct training. We will always fulfill our combatant commander mission requirements, but it’s going to have a huge impact on training across the board. It’s causing us to constrict in areas such as utilities. It’ll cause us to potentially defer maintenance on vehicles, also defer a lot of supply and equipment purchases. For example, buying computers and technological equipment for units will slow down dramatically. Our information technology systems can continue to become outdated if we’re not able to replace them.

The Air Force is considering more serious impacts if nothing is changed by March 1, but we won’t know the effect on our wing, as well as the 435th AGOW, until then.

KMN: With the 86th AW having a mission to provide combat airlift and operate the Air Force’s premier installation, how will mission readiness be affected by sequestration?
END: We are in planning phases right now and planning for the worst case scenario. We don’t know exactly what will happen March 1, but we place a high priority on the needs of combatant commanders. Our wing leadership, as well as a resource management team, will make sure we apply resources to fulfill that combat airlift mission. Budget constraints could affect some services on the base itself. If we, for example, do not have enough funding to pay for work orders with civil engineering, that could force certain facilities to close down. If we don’t get enough sustainment dollars to help our facilities, there could be an impact. We will always make sure we protect our Airmen’s safety and their health so if it’s an emergency type of project, we’ll make sure the resources are there to take care of it.

KMN: What specific programs here are expected to be affected by sequestration?
END: Sequestration is going to affect everything. The nature of the cut is it’s applied across every program. Every unit that is assigned to the 86th AW, as well at the 435th AGOW, will be affected in some way. We have had a tremendous cut to our supply, equipment and travel dollars, so every unit must find a way to deal with that.

KMN: What programs are planning to be protected from budget cuts?
END: Since our wing’s No. 1 priority is readiness, readiness will be protected to the fullest extent possible. Our support to our combatant commanders will absolutely be supported; we will do everything we can to not allow failure in those areas and not allow those mission areas to degrade.

KMN: When you look at the news and read statements from Air Force leadership, at times it feels like these challenges facing the Air Force are out of the hands of the Airmen. Is this true? While sequestration will affect all areas of government, what, if any, actions can Airmen take to help in this fiscally constrained environment?
END: Some of it is true; there are definitely things that the average Airman cannot influence. However, there are a lot of things that they can. Utilities, for example, something as simple as turning off the lights as soon as you leave the office, making sure we have our heaters turned to a reasonable level and adjust them when we leave for the day … Being as efficient and smart as possible in what we do and avoiding waste.

It’s important to remember that our Airmen use office supplies. For example, it helps to not print everything we want to read and instead just read on the computer. Any way we can reduce the amount of supplies we’re using can save money in the long run.

There’s also making good decisions for TDYs, such as trying to stay on base and saving versus staying off base where we’re paying large hotel fees.
Most of all, Airmen can bring up their ideas. If they have an idea on how to reduce spending or be more efficient, now is definitely the time to bring that up.

KMN: Is there anything you’d like to add on the topic?
END: I would just say we are going to accomplish our mission. Our job in the 86th Comptroller Squadron is to resource units. We’re going to make sure we come up with the best plan in coordination with wing leaders on applying our resources to accomplish the mission and protecting the priorities of both wings.

The 86th AW and 435th AGOW will continue to be responsive to the needs of combatant commanders and ready to meet emerging challenges, accomplish the mission and ensure the security of the nation. Wing leadership continues to plan extensively for current and long-term budget risks.

For more information on Air Force financial management and comptrollers, visit www.saffm.hq.af.mil.