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79–951 2013

[H.A.S.C. No. 113–9] 

THE IMPACT OF THE CURRENT BUDGETCONSTRAINED ENVIRONMENT ON 

MILITARY END STRENGTH 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON MILITARY PERSONNEL 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

HEARING HELD 

FEBRUARY 27, 2013 
(II) 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON MILITARY PERSONNEL 

JOE WILSON, South Carolina, Chairman 

WALTER B. JONES, North Carolina 

JOSEPH J. HECK, Nevada 

AUSTIN SCOTT, Georgia 

BRAD R. WENSTRUP, Ohio 

JACKIE WALORSKI, Indiana 

CHRISTOPHER P. GIBSON, New York 

KRISTI L. NOEM, South Dakota 

SUSAN A. DAVIS, California 

ROBERT A. BRADY, Pennsylvania 

MADELEINE Z. BORDALLO, Guam 

DAVID LOEBSACK, Iowa 

NIKI TSONGAS, Massachusetts 

CAROL SHEA-PORTER, New Hampshire 

CRAIG GREENE, Professional Staff Member 

DEBRA WADA, Professional Staff Member 

JAMES WEISS, Staff Assistant 
(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF HEARINGS 

2013 

HEARING: Page 

Wednesday, February 27, 2013, The Impact of the Current Budget-Constrained Environment on Military End Strength .............................................. 1 

APPENDIX: 

Wednesday, February 27, 2013 .............................................................................. 21 

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2013 

THE IMPACT OF THE CURRENT BUDGET-CONSTRAINED 

ENVIRONMENT ON MILITARY END STRENGTH 

STATEMENTS PRESENTED BY MEMBERS OF CONGRESS 

Davis, Hon. Susan A., a Representative from California, Ranking Member, 

Subcommittee on Military Personnel ................................................................. 2 

Wilson, Hon. Joe, a Representative from South Carolina, Chairman, Subcommittee on Military Personnel ........................................................................ 1 

WITNESSES 

Bromberg, LTG Howard B., USA, Deputy Chief of Staff, G1, U.S. Army .......... 4 

Jones, Lt Gen Darrell D., USAF, Deputy Chief of Staff for Manpower, Personnel and Services, U.S. Air Force ................................................................... 7 

Milstead, LtGen Robert E., Jr., USMC, Deputy Commandant, Manpower 

& Reserve Affairs, U.S. Marine Corps ............................................................... 6 

Van Buskirk, VADM Scott R., USN, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, Manpower, Personnel, Training, and Education, U.S. Navy ................................... 5 

Wright, Hon. Jessica L., Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel 

and Readiness, U.S. Department of Defense ..................................................... 3 

APPENDIX 

PREPARED STATEMENTS: 

Bromberg, LTG Howard B. .............................................................................. 48 

Jones, Lt Gen Darrell D. .................................................................................. 80 

Davis, Hon. Susan A. ....................................................................................... 27 

Milstead, LtGen Robert E., Jr. ........................................................................ 70 

Van Buskirk, VADM Scott R. .......................................................................... 60 

Wilson, Hon. Joe ............................................................................................... 25 

Wright, Hon. Jessica L. .................................................................................... 28 

DOCUMENTS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD: 

[There were no Documents submitted.] 

WITNESS RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS ASKED DURING THE HEARING: 

Dr. Heck ............................................................................................................ 97 

Mr. Wilson ......................................................................................................... 97 

QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY MEMBERS POST HEARING: 

[There were no Questions submitted post hearing.] 

(1) 

THE IMPACT OF THE CURRENT BUDGET-CONSTRAINED 

ENVIRONMENT ON MILITARY END STRENGTH 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON MILITARY PERSONNEL, Washington, DC, Wednesday, February 27, 2013. 

The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 2:03 p.m., in room 

2118, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Joe Wilson (chairman 

of the subcommittee) presiding. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOE WILSON, A REPRESENTATIVE FROM SOUTH CAROLINA, CHAIRMAN, SUBCOMMITTEE 

ON MILITARY PERSONNEL 

Mr. WILSON. Ladies and gentlemen, the hearing will come to 

order. The subcommittee today will focus on the harsh realities of 

maintaining an All-Volunteer Force in a budget-constrained environment, reducing end strength of the military services. Although 

I understand the fiscal realities, as I have made clear in the past, 

I have serious reservations about the end strength and force structure reduction plans for our military. America remains at war 

today and will continue at some level of persistent conflict globally 

with a ruthless and committed enemy for the foreseeable future, 

encouraged by outlaw rogue regimes. We must not forget the attacks of September the 11th, 2001. 

Nevertheless, the task of reducing manpower is not easily accomplished, and must be done with great care and compassion to ensure the services keep faith with the service members and their 

families who have served our Nation through more than 10 years 

of war. The committee will hear from the witnesses on which authorities the Department of Defense [DOD] and each of the services 

plan to use to reduce end strength over the next several years. 

We will also explore the impact of a yearlong continuing resolution and sequestration on the services’ current end strength plans. 

As a reminder, the military personnel accounts are exempt in fiscal 

year 2013 from cuts under sequestration. But that does not guarantee there will not be a long-term impact on end strength levels. 

Of significant concern to me is that increasing fiscal pressure on 

the military services, especially the Army and Marine Corps, will 

compel them to move from gradual reductions in manning levels to 

precipitous declines. I am also concerned that if the military services are compelled to make more significant reductions than now 

planned, that the use of involuntary separation authorities will become the norm. 

I would like to welcome our distinguished witnesses. The Honorable Jessica L. Wright, Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Per-
2 

sonnel and Readiness; Lieutenant General Howard B. Bromberg, 

Deputy Chief of Staff, G–1, United States Department of the Army; 

Vice Admiral Scott R. Van Buskirk, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, Manpower, Personnel, Training, and Education, U.S. Department of the Navy; Lieutenant General Robert E. Milstead, Jr., 

Deputy Commandant, Manpower and Reserve Affairs, United 

States Marine Corps; Lieutenant General Darrell D. Jones, Deputy 

Chief of Staff for Manpower, Personnel, and Services, U.S. Department of the Air Force. 

I would also like to recognize that today is the first appearance 

before the subcommittee for Lieutenant General Bromberg and Secretary Wright. Welcome to both of you. 

Ms. Davis is our ranking member, Congresswoman Susan Davis 

of California. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Wilson can be found in the Appendix on page 25.] 

STATEMENT OF HON. SUSAN A. DAVIS, A REPRESENTATIVE 

FROM CALIFORNIA, RANKING MEMBER, SUBCOMMITTEE ON 

MILITARY PERSONNEL 

Mrs. DAVIS. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to 

thank you for holding this hearing for the impact of the Budget 

Control Act and the impact that it is having on the force structure 

and end service strength of the services. And then what sequestration and the uncertainty surrounding the remaining fiscal year 

2013 may also have on our budget and your operations. I also want 

to thank all of the—most of the witnesses for the opportunity to 

spend some time with you in the last few days. 

The Budget Control Act [BCA] has already made the services, 

particularly the Army and the Marine Corps, take a hard look at 

their ability to sustain the current force. And while their decision 

to reduce end strength was based on the reduction in operational 

requirements, it was also a result of the reduction in funding imposed by the BCA. What concerns me is the additional reductions 

that are expected if and when sequestration sets in on March 1st. 

These significant reductions will be compounded when the continuing resolution under which our government, including the Department of Defense, are operating under. And that, as we all 

know, ends on March 27th. 

The full committee has held a number of hearings on the impacts 

of sequestration and the continuing resolution, but none of these 

hearings have focused on potential solutions to this dilemma. So 

while I appreciate having this hearing to learn more of what sequestration and the potential impact of a full year CR [continuing 

resolution] could have on the Department, the only people, quite 

honestly, who can resolve this issue are the Members of Congress. 

We must find common ground and be willing to compromise for 

the future benefit of our country. Political posturing should not 

come at the expense of our brave men and women in uniform and 

their families. I look forward to hearing all of you and working 

with my colleagues on this committee and in the House to develop 

a rational, a commonsense approach to resolving these challenges. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I look forward to our hearing. 
3 

[The prepared statement of Mrs. Davis can be found in the Appendix on page 27.] 

Mr. WILSON. Thank you, Ms. Davis. 

Secretary Wright, we will begin with your testimony. As a reminder, please keep your statements to 3 minutes. We have your 

written statements for the record. 

STATEMENT OF HON. JESSICA L. WRIGHT, ACTING UNDER 

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR PERSONNEL AND READINESS, 

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 

Ms. WRIGHT. Mr. Chairman, thank you. Ranking Member Davis, 

thank you very much. Distinguished members of the committee. It 

is a pleasure to discuss the effects of sequestration as mandated by 

the Budget Control Act of 2011, and the ongoing continuing resolution for fiscal year 2013, on the Department of Defense and military personnel readiness of our total force. Sequestration, which is 

scheduled to go in effect in 2 days, would result in $46 billion funding reductions across the Department, a reduction of 9 percent of 

the total budget for 2013. This is the steepest decline of obligating 

authority in history. And an ongoing continuing resolution would 

compound that fiscal devastation. 

On February 13th, Deputy Secretary Carter and Chairman 

Dempsey, all four service chiefs and the National Guard Bureau 

chief appeared before the full House Armed Services Committee. 

They testified on the significant impacts both on sequestration and 

the continuing resolution would have on our national readiness. 

Whether it is a canceled deployment of an aircraft carrier or reduced training of Army troops to maintain proficiency or the degradation of our Reserve Components, the results of the impact on 

readiness in our armed forces will be disastrous. 

Managing readiness after a decade of war was bound to be a 

challenge, irrespective of our fiscal considerations. Now the services 

are beginning the difficult process of resetting and restoring our 

forces’ ability to conduct a full range of military operations as required by the current defense strategy. I believe there is a very 

real possibility that the readiness and effects of sequestration or an 

operation under a continuing resolution would be devastating. 

These effects are likely to reduce readiness directly through the reduction of operation and training and indirectly through the effects 

of personnel and equipment. Some of those indirect effects are especially those that impact personnel pipelines, and it will take 

years to realize what they are and even longer to mitigate. 

Moving forward, I do want to thank you for the legislative authorities that the Congress gave us in NDAA 2013 [National Defense Authorization Act], which allows us greater flexibility to 

manage our force structure and to ensure the least impact to our 

service members and our readiness. 

Chairman Dempsey argued that we need flexibility to allocate 

our resources to our highest priorities. And when we are not allowed by legislation to touch individual pieces of our budget, readiness accounts inevitably, we pay the price. This is especially true 

in the terms of our military end strength. If sequestration is allowed to go forward with ongoing continuing resolution, the collateral damage will be seen in three major areas: Force readiness; im-
4 

pacts on force level, capabilities and morale; and impact on support 

programs. However, the President made it clear that we will exclude military personnel accounts. And Secretary of Defense has 

given guidance that the Department will protect to the greatest extent possible caring for our wounded warriors, providing quality 

medical care, and, in addition, the Department is committed to 

such efforts as sexual assault prevention and response, suicide prevention, service member transition. Our warfighters, their families, 

our Nation’s security should not and could not be put at risk by 

this fiscal policy such as sequestration. 

Sir, and ma’am, thank you so much for the opportunity to speak 

with you today. And I look forward to your questions. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Wright can be found in the Appendix on page 28.] 

Mr. WILSON. Thank you, Ms. Wright. 

And Lieutenant General Bromberg. 

STATEMENT OF LTG HOWARD B. BROMBERG, USA, DEPUTY 

CHIEF OF STAFF, G1, U.S. ARMY 

General BROMBERG. Chairman Wilson, Ranking Member Davis, 

distinguished members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you on behalf of today’s Army. Throughout 

our history, United States Army has never failed to respond to a 

threat to our Nation. Today, the greatest threat to our military 

readiness is the current dire fiscal uncertainty. The combined effects of yearlong continuing resolution and sequestration, along 

with the need to protect wartime operations, may result in particular severe reductions in funding to programs directly relating 

to the readiness of our force and the well-being of our soldiers and 

families. If not addressed, the current fiscal uncertainty will significantly and rapidly degrade Army readiness for the next 5 to 10 

years, putting national security at risk. The continuing resolution 

and funding to the Military Personnel Army, or MPA appropriation, is in excess of requirements. And the President has exempted 

it from sequestration. 

So military pay, pay raises, housing allowances, subsistence, and 

other pays are adequately funded. However, it will become necessary to move funds from the MPA account to cover additional 

funding shortfalls for critical programs. It is imperative that we 

preserve the readiness of our force. We simply cannot send soldiers 

into harm’s way who are not trained, equipped, or ready for contingencies. Cancellations in training or reduction in support network 

required to feed, clothe, and maintain the health of initial entry 

soldiers would create a backlog within the personnel inventory that 

will exist well past fiscal year 2014. 

This backlog would impact the Army’s ability to maintain grade 

structure and future readiness. Loss of training is not recoverable 

and will have a negative impact for near-term readiness. Subsequently, a loss in confidence in the Army’s ability to train, equip, 

and care for soldiers would damage recruiting and retention for 

many years to come. Under the Budget Control Act of 2011, the 

Army will have to cut $170 billion over 10 years and will reduce 

our Active Duty end strength from 570,000 to 490,000. The National Guard will be reduced from 358,000 to 350,000. And the 
5 

Army Reserve will be reduced from 206,000 to 205,000. This would 

accumulate to a net loss with our civilian reductions from 272,000 

to 255,000 to about 106,000 soldier and civilian positions. 

If sequestration occurs in 2013 and discretionary caps are reduced from 2014 to 2021, the Army may be forced to reduce an additional 100,000 personnel across the Active Army, National Guard, 

and U.S. Army Reserve in order to maintain a balance between end 

strength, readiness, and modernization. The Military Personnel Account may be exempt, but the second and third order effects are 

detrimental and will have direct impact on our future readiness. 

While we must transform to a smaller Army, it is imperative we 

do so in a planned, strategic manner, without sacrificing programs 

that impact readiness and support for our people. Chairman Wilson, Ranking Member Davis, and members of subcommittee, I look 

forward to your questions and thank you for your the opportunity. 

[The prepared statement of General Bromberg can be found in 

the Appendix on page 48.] 

Mr. WILSON. Thank you very much, General. And we have Vice 

Admiral Van Buskirk. 

STATEMENT OF VADM SCOTT R. VAN BUSKIRK, USN, DEPUTY 

CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS, MANPOWER, PERSONNEL, 

TRAINING, AND EDUCATION, U.S. NAVY 

Admiral VAN BUSKIRK. Good afternoon, Chairman Wilson, Ranking Member Davis, and distinguished members of the committee. 

Thank you for holding this hearing to discuss the potential impacts 

of the current budget-constrained environment on military end 

strength. We are operating in a time of unprecedented uncertainty 

as we face the prospect of sequestration and the ongoing continuing 

resolution. Though military personnel accounts are exempt from sequester, impacts to sailors and their families can already be felt as 

we curtail deployments, make adjustments to training and maintenance. 

These actions, while necessary, are disruptive and are a source 

of increased anxiety for our Navy families. Compounding these concerns is the potential for furlough of our Federal civilian employees, who are the backbone of many of our vital sailor and family 

support programs. While the Chief of Naval Operations has committed to protecting these programs, in many cases, the absence of 

the expertise and the corporate knowledge of our civilians that they 

deliver will be sorely felt. 

While we do not anticipate that a CR or sequester will adversely 

impact near-term plans for achieving our end strength target, mitigation actions already taken and others about ready to be executed 

will significantly affect our ability to attract, recruit, develop, assign, and balance our highly skilled workforce beyond fiscal year 

2013. Our force management actions have us closing the gap as we 

work towards our fiscal year 2013 Active end strength authorization of 322,700, and our Reserve end strength of 62,500. 

We do not anticipate the need to further reduce aggregate end 

strength for either component this year. We are applying various 

force management levers as we balance and distribute the force 

and will, to the extent possible, apply voluntary measures before 

resorting to involuntary measures. As we stabilize the force, we 
6 

will adjust future end strength to pay anticipated force structure 

changes that may result from actions taken to meet sequestration 

requirements. 

We have already begun taking actions. We have reduced advertising outreach and engagement opportunities, which are fundamental to attracting and recruiting our future force. Likewise, we 

are making tough budget decisions regarding training, education, 

and travel that inhibit our ability to deliver trained sailors for 

timely assignment, deployment, and distribution. If authorized to 

transfer funds with the fiscal year 2013 budget, we would apply 

funding for investments to restore the most critical operation and 

maintenance requirements. 

We ask that Congress act quickly to enact the fiscal year 2013 

defense appropriations bill, or, at a minimum, provide us with the 

flexibility to reprogram funding between accounts to best position 

us to meet requirements for the national defense strategy. 

I remain committed to working with Congress, particularly with 

this subcommittee, to provide information on the effects of the continuing resolution and sequestration. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Admiral Van Buskirk can be found 

in the Appendix on page 60.] 

Mr. WILSON. Thank you very much, Vice Admiral. 

And we have Lieutenant General Milstead. 

STATEMENT OF LTGEN ROBERT E. MILSTEAD, JR., USMC, DEPUTY COMMANDANT, MANPOWER & RESERVE AFFAIRS, U.S. 

MARINE CORPS 

General MILSTEAD. Good afternoon. Chairman Wilson, Ranking 

Member Davis, and distinguished members of the subcommittee, it 

is my privilege to appear before you today. 

As our Commandant recently testified to you, sequestration will 

have a significant impact on our Nation’s readiness, especially in 

the long term. It creates risk to our national strategy, our forces, 

our people, and our country, risks that will be further inflamed by 

a yearlong CR. We will have to make some tough decisions about 

which programs to maintain and which to streamline, or which to 

cut. We will do everything we can to maintain our highest priority 

programs that support our Marines, especially our wounded warrior care. But even some of these programs may be impacted if our 

civilian Marines are furloughed. Over 90 percent of our civilian 

Marines work side by side with our uniformed Marines in the operating forces, not walking around the halls of the Pentagon. 

Approximately 68 percent are veterans, and they are security 

guards, our firefighters, teachers, therapists, and transition support personnel. However, no matter the implications, there are 

some things that must endure. We will continue to be our Nation’s 

expeditionary force in readiness. We will be ready to rapidly respond to crisis around the globe and to ensure continued security 

to the American people. We will be always faithful to the trust 

which the American people have vested in us, and we must keep 

faith with our Marines to draw down in a measured and responsible manner. Your Marine Corps will continue to give you the best 

capability that can be squeezed from the precious resources you 

have allocated to us for our national defense. Our individual Ma-
7 

rines are the Corps’ most sacred resource, and they will always be 

so. I look forward to your questions. 

[The prepared statement of General Milstead can be found in the 

Appendix on page 70.] 

Mr. WILSON. Thank you very much, General. And as a Member 

of Congress who has had the privilege of representing Parris Island, I know what quality personnel you have. 

We now proceed to Lieutenant General Darrell D. Jones. 

STATEMENT OF LT GEN DARRELL D. JONES, USAF, DEPUTY 

CHIEF OF STAFF FOR MANPOWER, PERSONNEL AND SERVICES, U.S. AIR FORCE 

General JONES. Chairman Wilson, Ranking Member Davis, and 

distinguished members of the committee. It is our honor to be here 

before you and testify today and to represent the 690,000 total 

force airmen serving this great Nation around the globe. The military, the men and women of our great service, and the Air Force 

are dedicated and innovative and hard-working. Without their selfless efforts, we could not succeed. Unfortunately, today our budgetary standoff is sending the wrong signal to our workforce. The 

sheer threat of sequestration brings uncertainty and angst to the 

force and as 1 March fast approaches, their angst is reaching a fevered pitch. Whether it is furloughing up to 180,000 dedicated civilian airmen, reducing our flying hour program within operational 

and training units, or cutting temporary duty funding to attend 

mission readiness training and professional development, the visible effects of sequestration will be significant and widespread. Less 

measurable but visible will be the chilling effect this measure has 

on the morale and institutional confidence of those 690,000 airmen 

I spoke of earlier. 

We all recognize the significant fiscal challenges facing our Nation and agree we must all contribute to the Nation’s solution. 

However, using arbitrary across-the-board cuts to achieve our fiscal 

goals is shortsighted and will impact our readiness levels in the 

near and the long terms. We urge you to do all that is necessary 

to avert the arbitrary cuts of sequestration and pass an appropriations measure. If sequestration is inevitable, we ask you to grant 

us reprogramming flexibility, relief from measures like the depot 

50/50 rule and the acquisition 80/20 rule and other restrictions that 

were enacted in a normal budgetary environment but today limit 

our flexibility to mitigate the significant impact of both sequestration and the yearlong continuing resolution. 

The Air Force has been in sustained combat operations for 22 

years. I am deeply concerned about our people as they struggle 

even more with the stress and uncertainty of a looming sequestration and a continuing resolution. 

Thank you for the opportunity to represent the Chief of Staff of 

the United States Air Force and all airmen today. And I look forward to taking your questions. 

[The prepared statement of General Jones can be found in the 

Appendix on page 80.] 

Mr. WILSON. I want to thank each of you for your heartfelt comments, and I know that we all appreciate your extraordinary service. 
8 

We will be proceeding with 5 minutes of questions from each person, and then I appreciate very much that Mr. Craig Greene will 

be maintaining the time. And we shall follow the time as we proceed. 

Many of the drawdown authorities involve greater capability to 

involuntarily separate and retire service members with significant 

consequences on morale, as has been cited. Secretary Wright, what 

measures, if any, is DOD taking to try and maintain some parity 

across the services with respect to which separation measures are 

being used? Do you see an imbalance in these plans between the 

use of voluntary and involuntary separations? If not, do you see 

any challenges with fairness perceptions? 

Ms. WRIGHT. Sir, thank you very much for the question. 

The Secretary and the Deputy Secretary across DOD have indicated that they are striving for consistency across the Department. 

We have reached out to the services from the OSD [Office of the 

Secretary of Defense] level and have an understanding that the 

first method that they need to use when separating military members from the force is clearly in the voluntary zone. We have reviewed all of their plans, and they are consistent with that, to use 

a voluntary method to separate the service members. 

Mr. WILSON. I am very concerned, though, that what we will see 

is involuntary separation. And so for each of our military witnesses, and beginning, General Bromberg, with you, to the right, 

on my side, and if your service is employing or forced to employ involuntary reduction measures, what special efforts do you intend to 

use to communicate with the force and mitigate the morale problems that are inevitable. Certainly, military families not just service members, but their families are so concerned. 

General BROMBERG. Yes, sir. With respect to the Army, our first 

plan is to use or reducing our accessions to try to limit how many 

we bring in by year. And then let people naturally attrit out of the 

service through retirement or they decide not to stay with us. As 

we know, about 36 percent always leave the service after their first 

term of enlistment. Then after that point, in the case of the Army, 

we will come to a point where unfortunately we will have to use 

some involuntary separation measures. In the case of the Army, it 

will probably be about 24,000 enlisted and about 7,000 officers. 

What we plan to do, sir, is we plan to have constant dialogue, both 

through the press, through individual leadership being involved. In 

the case of officers who would be asked to retire early, we will have 

senior leaders talk to those officers. The same with noncommissioned officers. Senior noncommissioned officers will talk to everybody to ensure they understand the meanings. 

In all cases, we are trying to maximize, to the greatest extent 

possible, in some cases, up to 18 months early warning or early notice that that person may have to retire. Unfortunately, not everybody will be retirement-eligible. But we do have the authority 

granted in the National Defense Authorization Act that will allow 

us to do early retirement at 15 years, so some people will be able 

to apply for that. There will be some that will have to leave the 

service, unfortunately, with just separation pay at the end of the 

day. We think we are being very aggressive, we think we are being 

very open, but again we are trying to use our accessions and our 
9 

normal attrition to get to where we need to be by the end of 2017 

under today’s Budget Control Act, not counting sequestration or 

other activities. 

Mr. WILSON. Admiral. 

Admiral VAN BUSKIRK. Chairman Wilson, after two decades of 

reducing our force structure and our personnel in the Navy, we are 

at a point where we were stabilizing our workforce. So currently 

that is based upon the force structure that we predict that we will 

have. 

As we look at the impacts of sequestration, we anticipate that if 

we have to reduce our force structure that we would do that, reduce our force structure, we would reduce, accordingly, our manpower. But currently we see no need to use involuntary measures 

at this point. And, hopefully, as we can continue to stabilize the 

workforce, we will be in a position to where we are just maintaining voluntary measures that we will use to shape our workforce. 

Mr. WILSON. Thank you. 

General MILSTEAD. In the Marine Corps, we are taking down to 

182,100. That is our figure. And as I have stated in my written testimony, we see no need at all to use involuntary measures. We are 

confident that we can maintain this measured and gradual descent 

without the need for involuntary measures, you know, and thank 

you very much for what you have given us to be able to do that. 

You have given us the force-shaping measures so that we can do 

this. The temporary early retirement authority, the VSP, Voluntary 

Separation Pay. These are paid by OCO [Overseas Contingency Operations], and so they are not coming out of the funds. You have 

given us early release authority, you have given us time and grade 

waivers. And these, we are confident, will be sufficient to get us 

down to that 182,100 by the end of 2016 without involuntary separations. 

Mr. WILSON. Thank you. And concluding. 

General JONES. Mr. Chairman, the Air Force for the last 2 years 

has been on a multiyear program to get us to our end strength by 

the end of fiscal year 2012. We are very fortunate to meet that goal 

and basically be right on target at the end of the year. Our goal 

for fiscal year 2013 on the Active side is 3,340 less. With the reduced amount of time, once we have a budget solidified to get to 

that, we do have concerns whether we will be able to reach that 

at the end of the year using voluntary programs, but we believe we 

will. We will be using no extraordinary involuntary programs this 

year. 

In fiscal year 2014, we are not sure if we are going to be able 

to meet our end strength without possibly having to resort to the 

Selective Early Retirement Boards. But ours is more of a forceshaping program where we are looking at year groups and specific 

career fields to reduce our forces while maintaining our accessions. 

We are cutting accessions on the enlisted side by 2.6 percent in fiscal year 2013 and no reduction on the officers’ side of the house, 

because we think it is very important to maintain our seed corn as 

we go forward so that we don’t create bathtubs that we have to live 

with for 20 years. 

Mr. WILSON. Thank you, each one of you, for your comments. 

And we now proceed to Ms. Davis. 
10 

Mrs. DAVIS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I know you have been 

talking about your drawdowns. I am just wondering, if sequestration does move forward, could you expand on some other timelines 

that you would be looking at? And would those, any of those include any additional drawdowns? 

Ms. WRIGHT. Ma’am, I am going to have to defer to the services 

individually when they talk about their particular end strength 

and how sequestration would affect that particular end strength. 

Mrs. DAVIS. Okay. 

General BROMBERG. Yes, ma’am. In the case of the Army, we are 

examining right now if sequestration takes effect, would we have 

to accelerate our ramp, our downturn ramp right now away from 

the plan that we currently have. We could potentially have to do 

that in order to balance readiness, modernization, and overall end 

strength. In that case, we could see ourselves blowing by the estimates that we have right now for end strengths for each year. And 

if sequestration happens, just looking at the overall balancing 

again across all the budgetary requirements, we could see ourselves coming down as much as 100,000 out throughout the future 

years. Still doing the research on that, and we could provide you 

more information. But that is what we are right in the middle of 

doing right now. 

Mrs. DAVIS. What is the timeline? When would you have to begin 

to make those decisions? We are looking at, obviously, March 1st 

and then the 27th in terms of the CR. What timeline are you looking at to actually make those decisions? 

General BROMBERG. Yes, ma’am. If the discretionary cap is not 

going to be lifted, then we will probably make the current downturn path decision probably in the next 30 to 60 days. Because we 

just know we won’t have the money to maintain that. As far as the 

larger reduction decisions, those would come out as we further develop the budget for 2014 through 2018 and beyond. 

Mrs. DAVIS. Is that the same basically for all of you? Or is there 

anything else you would like to add? 

General JONES. In the Air Force side of the house, ma’am, unless 

sequestration would were to go for an extremely long time that 

would cause significant reductions in force structure, we wouldn’t 

need to take the force any smaller. 

General MILSTEAD. For the Marine Corps, 182,100. We have done 

a detailed analysis through a force structure review group and 

other such measures to see what the Marine Corps needs to be to 

meet our defense strategic guidance. And that number is 182,100. 

We are confident, regardless of sequestration, even regardless of a 

continuing resolution, that we can get down to 182,100, given those 

force-shaping measures that you have given us. But it is important 

to point out to go back what Chairman Wilson stated, that the 

President has chosen to protect the MIL PERS [Military Personnel] 

accounts in this fiscal year. Given that, we can maintain this glide 

slope. 

Should that not be the case in the outyears, then, yes, ma’am, 

there is some hard decisions are going to have to be made. Because 

you are going to have to take that 2.3 cents on the dollar right out 

of those MIL PERS accounts and you are going to have to get rid 
11 

of people. But for the time being, we are optimistic that we will 

continue to have the MIL PERS accounts deferred. 

Mrs. DAVIS. Thank you. It is one thing not to have those accounts touched through this. But we have also talked about the 

fact that many civilians may be furloughed. And this affects our 

families. And so I wonder if you could talk a little bit more about 

that. And what is the I guess the perception, too, in terms of the 

questions that you are getting in terms of other benefits that might 

be affected by this. 

Admiral VAN BUSKIRK. Ma’am, I just came from Norfolk this past 

Friday where I had a chance to, all hands calls, not just with the 

Active and Reserve Components, but the civilians as well. And I 

will tell you the mood is angst, concern. The Active Duty Components and Reserve looking at the civilian workforce that they work 

side by side with on a day-to-day basis in our home port and our 

fleet concentration areas, looking at them as they are facing the decisions that they are going to have to make within their own families and the choices they have to make as they take a potential pay 

cut if a furlough should occur. 

Additionally, it shouldn’t be underestimated the effects of the 

hiring freeze that we have. The hiring freeze is significantly impacting our ability to bring in new talent to backfill the people who 

are choosing to leave our service. And the civilian workforce is vitally important, the 180,000-plus civilians that work within the 

Navy total force construct are critical to achieving our mission. So 

there is a concern among all the components about our ability to 

continue to meet our readiness and to fulfill our mission as we go 

forward. 

Mrs. DAVIS. Anybody else, quickly? Yes, Secretary Wright. 

Ms. WRIGHT. Yes, ma’am. I would like to add that, the furloughing, should we have to do it, of our civilians, oftentimes, people believe it is a Washington, DC, phenomenon. And I will tell you 

out of the 800,000 great civilians that are employed by our Department, the majority of them, 80 percent of them, work outside of the 

Military District of Washington. And so they fix our aircraft and 

our tanks and our ships. They provide services across the Nation. 

So this will be felt, you know, from this Washington to the State 

of Washington equally across our area. 

Mrs. DAVIS. Thank you. I think my time is up, and maybe if you 

want to pick that up later with someone else. Thank you very 

much. 

Mr. WILSON. Thank you, Ms. Davis. And we now proceed to Congressman Joe Heck of Nevada. 

Dr. HECK. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you all for 

being here, for your service and for the forthright and stark assessment that you have presented to us. Certainly with the significant 

end strength reductions, more so Army and Marine Corps than the 

other services, they are going to come with certain risks to being 

able to execute our national military strategy the next time the balloon goes up. Certainly in the past, that risk has been mitigated 

somewhat by the use of Compo [Component] 2 and 3 in the Reserve 

Components. And over the last decade, we have built some incredible capabilities within the Reserve Components going from that 
12 

transformation of a strategic reserve to an operational force, but it 

was done with OCO money, not baseline budgets. 

So now we see baseline budgets getting cut, OCO money is going 

away, no more CO–ADOS [Contingency Operation for Active Duty 

Operational Support] tours. And then that is going to be compounded with the capabilities not being able to train to the same 

level that they had. 

So it seems like our risk mitigation force is also taking a significant hit in being able to execute our national military strategy. 

And I will say that I don’t ever want to find us in a position again 

where I hear the quote that ‘‘You don’t go to war with the Army 

you want, you go to war with the Army you have.’’ But I am fearful 

that that is the path that we are going down. I mean, certainly, 

in the Army Reserve, with 83 percent of the transportation assets, 

74 percent of medical assets, 70 percent of civil affairs assets, Army 

is not going to war without the Reserve Component. What steps 

are being taken, if any, to try to be able to maintain the capabilities in Compo 2 and 3 to try to offset the risks that we are going 

to incur by the drawdown in the Active Duty force? 

And I am sure it is across the board. I will use Army Reserve 

because it is the one I am most familiar with, but I am sure it is 

going to be an impact on all of the Reserve Components. 

General BROMBERG. Yes, sir. As you have clearly articulated, the 

risks are great in executing our national strategy. Some of the 

things we are looking at right now as we look at how we balance 

the readiness, the modernization, the end strength account, preserving those critical resources need the Reserve Component. But 

clearly those are at risk. As we do our analysis in the coming 

weeks and months, as we see what the budget is, we will have to 

see where we end up. And we will do some follow-up with you, if 

that is okay. 

[The information referred to can be found in the Appendix on 

page 97.] 

Ms. WRIGHT. Sir, I would like add, too, that if we go into sequestration and we do have to institute a furlough, that will also affect 

those military technicians, those excepted civil servants that work 

for the Reserve Component. So that is another issue that the Reserve Components will be dealing with, just like the Department 

or the Active Component is dealing with. 

Dr. HECK. I appreciate you bringing that point up. And I guess, 

has there been any discussions of whether or not the dual status 

individual, if one status is going to be affected because of a change 

in the other status due to sequestration? What if the MILTECH 

who has got to maintain their Reserve job, is going to lose the Reserve job, or vice versa, if it is a MILTECH [Military Technician] 

who is going to lose their MILTECH position, are they still going 

to be able to maintain their Reserve status? Has there been any 

discussion about what might happen in that regard? 

Ms. WRIGHT. Their military job is protected with the MIL PERS 

account. So they will be paid as the military part of their responsibility, their Reserve Component position. If the furlough goes into 

effect, they will be furloughed along with the other DOD employees. 
13 

Dr. HECK. Any other, on the Reserve Component side, on the effects on your respective services? 

General MILSTEAD. The Marine Corps Reserves, we are going to 

hold at 39,600. That was all part of that same analysis on what 

we need. You know, we look at things as a total force. 

They are spread across 180 sites across this country. They do 

have civilians. And as Secretary pointed out, some of these positions are just one or two deep. So they will be affected by possible 

furloughs. But we have them about $665 million in the Reserve, 

the RPMC [Reserve Personnel, Marine Corps] account, if you will, 

this year. So we have them in baseline. And we are trying to live 

within the baseline. But in my total TOA [Table of Allowance], only 

3 percent of that is discretionary in my manpower account. And out 

of that 3 percent, I try and also feed the Reserves, to go to your 

question. Those reenlistment affiliation bonuses, the MOS [Military 

Occupational Specialty] retraining, the travel reimbursements, the 

IMA [Individual Mobilization Augmentee] costs to pay to activate 

a Reserve, to help support the Active Component or whatever. So 

we will be challenged significantly with sequestration for the management. But the basic 39,600 is covered. 

Dr. HECK. Then just quickly, if the Admiral or General Jones if 

you have anything to add differently for your respective components. 

ADMIRAL VAN BUSKIRK. For our Reserves, as you know, sir, they 

are fully integrated with our Active Component. So they are seeing 

the impact as we reduce our training opportunities. Their training 

opportunities are reduced as well, flying hours, their ability to do 

the mobilization training that is critical for supporting the total 

force mission. 

General JONES. Sir, we will see an equal impact on the Active, 

the Reserve, and the Guard side when it comes to flying hours. An 

18 percent reduction in flying hours for the year really equates to 

a 30 percent reduction in flying hours, roughly 203,000 flying 

hours. Units will very quickly go down to flying only basic qualifications for their aircraft, not combat ready for the aircraft. And 

we will see that effect. And it will take 6 months to spin them back 

up to be combat ready. Add on top of that the dual status technicians who will be furloughed if we go to a furlough. And the impact 

will be felt for a long time. 

Dr. HECK. Thank you all. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield 

back. 

Mr. WILSON. Thank you, Congressman Heck. 

We now proceed to Congresswoman Niki Tsongas of Massachusetts. 

Ms. TSONGAS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you all for 

being here today. We are here because we are all too aware that 

sequestration is now only 2 days away from being implemented. 

And we all have our particular concerns about its harmful effects. 

But in this context, I am particularly worried about the impact 

that it would have on our civilian and uniformed acquisitions workforce. 

In an Armed Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearing yesterday, one of our witnesses spoke about 

what Fareed Zakaria has called ‘‘the democratization of violence.’’ 
14 

This is the idea that increasingly sophisticated weaponry is becoming more and more readily available to emerging global competitors, Third World countries, and even non-state actors. So, for example, Hezbollah is now using UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] 

and increasingly sophisticated long-range missiles, and as a result, 

poses a very significant regional threat. 

In this kind of threat environment, it seems to me that it is essential for our Nation to continue its robust investment in R&D 

[research and development] and efficient acquisitions management 

of cutting-edge defense technology in order to retain our leadership 

on the world stage, even as we cut end strength and draw down 

from Afghanistan. 

And I would like to direct this question to you, General Jones. 

I know that this is an issue that has been of importance to you 

given your previous command of the 66th Air Base Wing at 

Hanscom Air Base. This is a base that is located next to my district 

in Massachusetts. And Hanscom, as you know, manages the Air 

Force’s Vital Electronic Systems Acquisition, also known as C4 

ISR, as part of the Air Force Materiel Command’s Life Cycle Management Center. As we continue to move away from a generation 

of dumb bombs and towards drones and cyber capabilities, these 

acquisitions functions will become more important than ever. 

And, General Jones, you note in your testimony that sequestration will ‘‘hobble’’ the Air Force’s modernization efforts, a major priority which the Air Force has cut end strength to fund. 

Could you elaborate on how it could hamper efficient acquisitions 

management, particularly of electronic and cyber systems, which 

are so extraordinarily complex and quickly evolving technologies? 

General JONES. Yes, ma’am, I will be happy to. First off, let me 

tell you that being stationed at Hanscom was really one of the best 

assignments my wife and I ever had. The area, being southerners, 

we weren’t sure what we were going to expect when we got up 

north. That was a very cold place for us. But it really was truly 

one of our great assignments, and some wonderful people. 

But if you walk around Hanscom Air Force Base, as all of our 

acquisition bases and our depots, you see a lot of civilians and you 

don’t see as many people in uniform. Seventy-four percent of all of 

our acquisition professionals are civilians. If we go to furlough and 

we furlough them for 2 days per pay period, or basically 20 percent 

of their productivity for the rest of the year, that is going to have 

a huge impact on our ability to acquire and complete the acquisition programs, and delay the delivery of different programs because 

they just won’t be there to do the job. It is a 20 percent cut in productivity. If you look at the depots, we have 24,000 civilians working in our depots. The number of days they will take off through 

furloughs will be significant for us, and it will have an impact. And 

that impact in the depot processes will take years to overcome because it is a very much the aircraft are coming in at max capacity. 

We are working them the best we can, getting them out quickly. 

So any delay in that process is going to send a bow wave and 

a ripple effect that we will live with for a long time. We understand 

the importance of acquisition professionals in the Air Force, whether they are in uniform or civilians. We closely monitor them. We 

have, obviously, through DAWIA [Defense Acquisition Workforce 
15 

Improvement Act] we watch their promotion opportunities, their 

career progression. And we know how important they are to what 

we do in the Air Force, whether it is in cyber, whether it is in aircraft. And it is something we can’t do without. It is going to take 

years if we go to the full effects of sequestration and furloughing 

the civilians to overcome what will happen. 

Ms. TSONGAS. Would you be impacted on a freeze by hiring as 

well? 

General JONES. We are already impacted on our hiring. 

Ms. TSONGAS. The backfill? 

General JONES. We started hiring freezes on 16 January. And 

there is basically, there were 5,000 vacancies in the Air Force a few 

months ago. That didn’t count critical temps and term employees. 

That is another 3,200 employees that are not at their job. And so 

every day we continue in the hiring freeze with the waiver authority held at the vice commander, the three-star level of the command, so it is being used very sparingly, it is having an impact on 

what we do every day. 

Ms. TSONGAS. Thank you. I yield back the balance of my time. 

Mr. WILSON. Thank you very much. And in consultation with the 

ranking member, we will proceed with another round of anyone 

who would like to ask further questions, because this is so important for the security of our country. 

I would like to ask each of the services to clarify what decisions 

will have to be made in 30 to 60 days if the sequester goes into 

effect? Is the decision that will be made one concerning end 

strength for cuts for fiscal year 2014 and beyond? If sequester goes 

into effect, when will the decisions be made about when additional 

end strength cuts for fiscal year 2014 have to be made? 

And actually it is quite appropriate we begin with the Army because that is where the greatest impact would be. So General 

Bromberg. 

General BROMBERG. Thank you, sir. I think if sequestration goes 

into effect and the discretionary caps aren’t lifted for the future, 

the first piece we are going to have to look at how fast do we 

change the speed at which we are approaching 490 based upon the 

Budget Control Act of 2011. And that will force us potentially to 

use more involuntary incentives to have people leave sooner to get 

us down to that 490 number. That is the first question that we will 

have to answer. I think we will have to answer that in the next 

30 to 60 days as the budget unfolds for fiscal year 2014 and the 

rest of 2013. So as soon as we have that information, we will go 

ahead and start moving down that direction. 

The greater question, if the discretionary caps aren’t lifted and 

they continue out through 2021, if we do have to reduce the size 

of the Army by over by up to 100,000, both the Active Component 

and the Reserve Component, National Guard and United States 

Army Reserve, that decision will take a little bit longer as we work 

through the summertime, I imagine the spring and the summertime. It is very hard for me to put an exact date on it, sir. But we 

will have to work through that once we know that is in effect. But 

clearly, we think the number is right around 100,000. And we will 

have to balance that with what capabilities we need, both Active 

and Reserve Component, to be able to respond to contingencies. 
16 

And, again, balancing that so we don’t hollow out the force tied to 

modernization, tied to the training base, as well as tied to overall 

readiness of the Army. So that is how I see it unfolding, sir. 

Mr. WILSON. Thank you. Vice Admiral Van Buskirk. 

Admiral VAN BUSKIRK. Mr. Chairman, similar, sir, with the way 

we would go about this is to take a look at what choices we have 

to make to be able to meet sequestration targets. Certainly, that 

is in our investment accounts. That may not have as big an impact 

to our manpower accounts. But if we choose to do it via force structure, force structure reductions in terms of ships and aircraft, 

ideally, we would, in order to not hollow out our force, both either 

on the capability side or on the people side, is that we would draw 

down consistent with the force structure reductions that we would 

choose to execute. 

Those decisions have not been made. And those would be part of 

our decisionmaking process for the 2014 budget and 2015 and beyond that we are working on right now, sir. So I don’t have a good 

timetable for the exact cuts we would have to make for our personnel and our end strength, because that would be tied to the decisions associated with where we would cut in terms of force structure or capability for the future. 

Mr. WILSON. Thank you. And General Milstead. 

General MILSTEAD. Yes, sir. We are going to have to maintain a 

balance across all five pillars of our readiness. We can’t overly 

focus on one. But that said, we are confident that we can maintain 

this measured and gradual glide slope that I have spoken of before 

in that sequestration will not have an adverse effect on our ability 

to maintain that glide slope, maintain faith with our Marines and 

their families, and get us down to 182,000 by the end of 2016. 

Mr. WILSON. Thank you. 

And General Jones. 

General JONES. Sir, we are very close to our end strength as it 

is. Really any changes for us from the people side will be driven 

by force structure adjustments which might come from a prolonged 

sequestration. So, like the Navy, once we decide how long we would 

be in this situation and what adjustments we might have to make 

for force structure, we would then be able to react from a personnel 

standpoint. 

Mr. WILSON. Thank you. And Vice Admiral Van Buskirk, in your 

statement, you mentioned that sequestration could cause the Navy 

to have up to 50 less than the current shipbuilding plan. How does 

this equate to the end strength numbers? 

Admiral VAN BUSKIRK. Mr. Chairman, I will have to take that 

for the record, sir, to give you the exact number that that would 

equate to. But certainly, we would take a look at all the crews that 

are associated with that and then there would be tail associated 

with that as well that would go with a reduction in the force structure of the ships and aircraft that would be part of that, sir. I don’t 

have a good number for you, sir. I have to take that for the record. 

[The information referred to can be found in the Appendix on 

page 97.] 

Mr. WILSON. Thank you. And I want to express concern, again, 

back on the number of ships. We are sadly going back to what was 

existent in 1916. Concerned about the Army, Marine Corps, that 
17 

we are going back to where we were in 1939. And for the Air Force, 

going back to when the Air Force was created in 1947. And I am 

just very concerned for our country. 

I now yield to Ms. Davis. 

Mrs. DAVIS. Thank you again, Mr. Chairman. And just going 

back to Ms. Tsongas’s point for a moment. I know a few years ago 

when we spent a lot of time with procurement and the ability of 

trained, experienced professionals to do their job and to have the 

kind of consistency in terms of the things that they were being 

asked to do. And I certainly worry and I suspect that you do, too. 

I don’t know that we necessarily lose that workforce, but they certainly can’t be working at peak in their ability to do that. And we 

often are critical, and I think, you know, for some good reason, in 

terms of the way contracts are let and some of the difficulties that 

we have had over the years. But at the same time here, we are 

doing something that obviously is going to impact that process. And 

I don’t know if you have any other thoughts about that. But it is 

something we certainly need to look out for. 

We have talked a little bit about authorities that you are granted, and certainly when it comes to any additional drawdowns or 

the reshaping of the force. Are there some authorities that you feel 

you have that you could use to make some changes as we go forward? And in that context, do you have to find offsets in order to 

do that? Because if you do, where would those offsets come from? 

I mean, if you have some authorities to move some of the funds 

around, you have to back that up with additional offsets in order 

to do that? And what then? How do you work that? Secretary 

Wright, do you want to—overall? 

Ms. WRIGHT. Right now with the continuing resolution there, the 

pots of money aren’t necessarily in the right place. 

Mrs. DAVIS. Right. 

Ms. WRIGHT. And so in order to—if we are in a yearlong continuing resolution, without the ability to move the money to the appropriate appropriation makes it very difficult for us to manage the 

force, to manage our readiness. And then to add onto that the potential, the very real potential of the $46 billion sequestration, that 

is where we see that huge degradation in readiness in most of the 

programs that we run. If we would get sequestration, that would 

be extremely painful for us in running our programs. The fact that 

it would be doubly hard was if we had the continuing resolution 

without the ability to move the money or it to be placed in the 

right accounts. 

Mrs. DAVIS. Are there some authorities that you have that would 

allow you to do that? Are there any in any areas at all? I just wanted to clarify that so that we—— 

General BROMBERG. Yes, ma’am. Follow on. For current year, we 

could use the reprogramming authority that allow us—if I have an 

excess in one account that I could move it to cover training, for example. We already have a training shortfall for units that have to 

deploy in the fall timeframe. But I can’t move money out of any 

other place to do that. So that could help us mitigate some things 

within this current year. 

For the Army, it is even more complicated, because not only do 

we have the continuing resolution challenge and sequestration, but 
18 

we also have an increase in our overseas contingency operating 

costs as we close down in Afghanistan, second destination transportation costs, fuel costs, and so forth. And that gives us an additional $6 billion shortfall that we have to overcome. So we have a 

threefold problem that gives us about an $18 billion shortfall within the last 6 months of the year. So those combined together for 

just 2013 are creating our challenges. 

Admiral VAN BUSKIRK. Yes, ma’am. As the CNO [Chief of Naval 

Operations] has testified, ours is also an imbalance. It has got to 

do with the way bringing forward 2012 into 2013 with the continuing resolution in that we have more money in the investment 

accounts there that we could be using right now for our operations 

account. And so having the transfer authority would enable us 

to—— 

Mrs. DAVIS. What happens to those funds? 

Admiral VAN BUSKIRK. Those funds wouldn’t be there. For instance, for the continuing resolutions, we are not able to do new 

starts on things we thought we were going to be able to do this 

year. So that money is there and available. And we won’t have time 

to execute that money for this year. So not to obligate it. So as a 

result, that money could be utilized if a transfer was available to 

our operations account potentially to offset the furlough. 

General MILSTEAD. We are the same way, ma’am. We just need 

the increased transfer and reprogramming authorities. Realign 

those dollars, move them around, as General Bromberg spoke 

about. Take them from an area that—— 

We are going to protect our higher priority programs. But we are 

going to do so at the expense of the lower priority programs. But 

to rob Peter to pay Paul, you need to be able sometimes to reprogram, to be able to shift some monies around. And as my brother 

to my right mentioned, you know, the ability to begin multiyears, 

to—no cold starts. For the Marine Corps, the F–35, the MV–22, we 

cannot get into our multiyears nor into the MILCON, do the 

MILCON we need to the hangars to support that. And that is remaining within the annualized CR. So for us, the alligator that is 

closest to the canoe is that CR. I mean, give us an appropriations 

bill. 

Mrs. DAVIS. Thank you. 

Mr. WILSON. Thank you very much. We now proceed and conclude with Congressman Heck of Nevada. 

Dr. HECK. Thank you, Mr. Chair. We have talked a lot, and 

rightfully so, about the impacts on manning, training, and equipping. What about the impacts on MWR [Moral, Welfare, and Recreation], family support programs? I mean, I know what the answer 

is, but I would like to have your answers on the record. So, ma’am, 

if you want to start. 

Ms. WRIGHT. As I have said before, I truly believe that when you 

take such a significant bill as $46 billion, there is not a program 

that is not going to be affected in some way. 

Saying that, we have been very cautious when we are doing, for 

example, the furlough plan. And I will give you a specific example 

when it comes to schools. You know, we run DOD schools across 

the Nation, across the globe. Our schoolteachers will be affected by 

the furlough. But we are working it in such a way that the children 
19 

will get an accredited school year. Because that is very important, 

to preserve that education for our children. 

But when it comes to things like commissaries, which are a family benefit, we may have to close a commissary one day a week. 

Those plans are still being vetted and they are contingent upon 

going into sequester, they are contingent upon the potential of a 

furlough. Our Secretary has made it perfectly clear that we are to 

protect as much as possible those programs that affect our families 

and our warfighters. And so we are trying to do that working 

through this fiscal crisis. 

General BROMBERG. Yes, sir, very similar for the Army, we are 

trying to protect those critical family programs and make sure that 

adequate support across the force. But clearly there is going to be 

reduction of hours. There is going to be some pullback of capability 

in lesser critical programs. Even when we were looking to get support we give for child development centers all the way across, you 

may have to remove some flex hours or close down lesser hours or 

whatever the case may be. But, clearly, we were going to do what 

is right for the families within the limits of the budget. But there 

will definitely be impacts. 

Admiral VAN BUSKIRK. Yes, sir. I think the key thing in addition 

to those comments are that we won’t mortgage our future. What we 

will do is we will defer the maintenance of all those infrastructure 

that is there that supports these programs. When things break, we 

won’t fix them, we won’t do new construction on where we need to 

be doing new construction. That will be the first thing that happens in order for us to bias ourselves towards service in the near 

term, to keeping the hours as much as possible available to provide 

the services. We will protect the key family programs, but I think 

you will see it first in MWR programs, gym closings at different 

times, perhaps, and programs will be the first to go after we do deferred maintenance and reduce new starts. 

General MILSTEAD. Sexual assault; behavioral health; combat 

operational stress control; suicide prevention; Wounded Warrior 

Regiments, our Wounded Warrior Regiments; our family readiness 

officers, the 380 we have; the transition assistance that we do for 

our Marines, soldiers, sailors, airmen that are transitioning out— 

all of these will be protected to the greatest degree that we can at 

the expense of those lower priority programs. Again, we will rob 

Peter to pay Paul where we can. But will there be some risk, will 

we take risk in those? Yes, sir, we will take risk in those. 

General JONES. Sir, we will certainly try to maintain and protect 

our family programs and our services programs, but as all my colleagues have said, there will be impacts. When you look at child 

development center and youth programs, 25 percent of all the people that work in those programs are dependents of service members. They will be furloughed in many cases, as they are furloughed, that will have an impact on the family budget. The family 

budget, the money they are able to spend at the commissary which 

may be closing for a day every week at every installation. It just 

begins to trickle down. As facilities restoration modernization are 

not done, you can impact 50 percent reduction first annually in 

2013, but that is basically a 90 percent reduction in the last 5 

months, 6 months out of the year. Ninety-three projects just won’t 
20 

start at 52 different bases, and all those have an impact, some of 

those would be in the family programs, but most of them are workrelated. But it has an impact on the overall stability, the overall 

comfort level with serving the government. 

Back to Ms. Davis, what you said earlier, we are talking furloughing civilians which sounds really easy to say. We are really 

talking about cutting their pay for 20 percent for the next 6 months 

of the year, which is a huge hit. Many of these families have two 

jobs, many of these families are living paycheck to paycheck, and 

a 20 percent cut no matter how much we advertise it, someone 

asked earlier if we would be able to use—what publicity we would 

be able to use to get the word out on what is coming. There is no 

publicity that can mitigate the effect of a 20 percent pay cut in a 

civilian employee, it will be tough. 

Mr. WILSON. Thank you, Congressman Heck. Thank you General 

Jones for pointing out that it is military families that work at the 

MWR facilities and will be significantly impacted. As we conclude, 

for the Navy and the Air Force in the event of sequester, if this 

could be provided for the record, I would like to know when the determination would be made as to force structure for fiscal year 

2014 and fiscal year 2015. 

[The information referred to can be found in the Appendix on 

page 97.] 

Mr. WILSON. I want to thank all of you for being here. Under the 

extraordinary circumstances we are facing, I know that we all appreciate your compassionate and heartfelt service with our military 

service members and military families. Thank you. We are adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 3:05 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.] 
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WITNESS RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS ASKED DURING 

THE HEARING 

FEBRUARY 27, 2013 

(97) 

RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY MR. WILSON 

Ms. WRIGHT. The Marine Corps is in the process of drawing down its end strength 

from the height of 202,000 to 182,100 by the end of fiscal year 2016. The Marine 

Corps is conducting the drawdown at a measured and responsible rate of approximately 5,000 Marines a year. This active duty force will be complemented by the 

diverse depth of our reserve component that will remain at 39,600 strong. Our 

emerging Marine Corps will be optimized for forward presence, engagement and 

rapid crisis response. It will be enhanced by critical enablers, special operators and 

cyber warfare Marines, all necessary on the modern battlefield. [See page 20.] 

General BROMBERG. The Army is in the final process of determining force structure changes in Fiscal Year 2014 (FY2014) and FY 2015. The Army anticipates releasing the FY 2014 and FY 2015 information this summer, provided there are no 

significant changes in anticipated resourcing. [See page 20.] 

Admiral VAN BUSKIRK. The number of people impacted by a reduction in shipbuilding depends on which types of ships are eliminated and how Navy manages 

the current ship inventory in response to changes in shipbuilding plans. In general, 

fewer ships means fewer Sailors will be needed to man the ships. 

The number of people assigned to a ship is determined generally for each ship 

class and individually for each ship, based on the expected mission and equipment. 

The impact of changes in the Fleet size can have a wide range of impact on end 

strength. Littoral Combat ships have a crew of fewer than 50 in their core crew 

while Aircraft Carriers have crews of about 3,000. 

To fully determine the effects of force structure reductions on end strength, Navy 

must also assess the impact on the shore activities supporting the fleet. Reductions 

in ships, submarines or squadrons likely have corresponding changes to these support organizations. In many cases, functional activities such as training, maintenance, shipyards and logistics activities support multiple ship classes. The workforce mix military, civilians and contractors makes the determination process for 

military reductions more complex. And, depending on which ships are retained, 

there are a wide range of maintenance requirements with corresponding and varied 

military end strength required. [See page 16.] 

Admiral VAN BUSKIRK. Force structure decisions for the Department for fiscal 

years 2014 and 2015 were made during the recently completed program and budget 

review as part of developing the fiscal year 2014 budget request. While the President has not yet submitted this budget request to the Congress, I can tell you that 

it will reflect force structure decisions; as well revisions to those force structure decisions made last year. These include those driven by a reduced fiscal topline, as required by the Budget Control Act 2011 and by Congressional requirements included 

in the fiscal year 2013 National Defense Authorization Act. However, as with all 

programs, the operational readiness associated with the Department’s force structure is at significant risk as a result of the sequestration. [See page 20.] 

General MILSTEAD. Adjustments will be made to the force structure once the full 

extent of resource constraintimposed by a new budget is determined. [See page 20.] 

General JONES. Our force structure for Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 will be presented 

in the FY14 President’s Budget (PB). The Program Objective Memorandum process 

for FY15 will determine force structure for the following year and will be presented 

to Congress via the FY15 PB. Force structure in both years is subject to change depending on how sequestration is implemented. [See page 20.] 

RESPONSE TO QUESTION SUBMITTED BY DR. HECK 

General BROMBERG. The Army is continuing to expand upon the Department of 

Defense Directive 1200.17 (Managing the Reserve Components as an Operational 

Force) by ensuring the Reserve Component (RC) participates across the full range 

of military operations at home and abroad. For the Army to meet the National Defense Strategy, the RC must provide operational capabilities and be incorporated 

into a revised Army Force Generation (ARFORGEN) Model. The Army is in the final 

stages of developing this new ARFORGEN Model which specifically identifies those 

capabilities critical to meeting the National Military Strategy, regardless of Compo-
98 

nent (COMPO), allowing the Army to apply scarce resources at the correct time and 

place to minimize risk and ensure readiness. By the end of FY 18, the RC will comprise more than 53% of the total Army end strength and will be organized, trained, 

sustained, equipped and employed to support the new ARFORGEN Model. [See page 

12.] 

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