Fort Jackson town hall addresses RIF cuts

By Wallace McBride, Fort Jackson LeaderFebruary 19, 2015

Fort Jackson town hall addresses RIF cuts
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT JACKSON, S.C. (Feb. 19, 2015) -- Fort Jackson's command group addressed a pending Reduction in Force for the Army Training Center during a town hall meeting last week.

Although a portion of the meeting was reserved for taking questions from the audience, the goal of the event was to share workforce restructuring initiatives on the table for 2015.

More specifically, the meeting was designed to discuss the mechanics of the RIF, which is a result of legislation adopted almost four years ago, said Maj. Gen. Bradley Becker, Fort Jackson commanding general. The Budget Control Act of 2011, signed into law by President Barack Obama in August of that year, enacted across-the-board government spending cuts. Becker said 40 percent of these budget cuts were made to the Department of Defense, leaving the Army to go from a personnel force of 570,000 people to 490,000 by October.

That number will be reduced even further to 450,000 by 2017, Becker said.

"It was not just on the military side, but also on the civilian side," he said. "As a result, the chief of staff of the Army was forced to make some tough decisions. It's not just civilians we're talking to today."

Army leadership initially planned for a gradual drawdown, Becker said, one that would have taken advantage of a reduction of force through attrition over a seven-year period.

Because of the Budget Control Act of 2011, those reductions have to happen sooner and faster, he said. Cuts are being made to both the civilian and Soldier workforce, and the Army is losing outstanding officers and non-commissioned officers because of the RIF, he said.

"We are having to say, 'Thank you very much for your service, both in peace time and in combat,'" Becker said. "'You've done a great job, but we're going to have to let you go.'"

The process outlined during last week's meeting at the Post Theater established that the first step will be identifying which ATC positions will be abolished. Employees will then be ranked in order of tenure, veterans' preference and length of service.

Based on these criteria, the lowest ranking employees will be released first, with those decisions scheduled to be announced in July.

As part of the RIF, Fort Jackson is conducting workshops to help employees get career counseling, and working toward identifying job opportunities at other federal installations. Although many installations are facing budget reductions this year, Fort Jackson Deputy Chief of Staff Gerald Henderson said there are still federal jobs to be found.

"While there are some installations going through a downsizing, there are other installations going through an upsizing," he said. "Just down the road, Fort Gordon, (Georgia), is hiring people."

"You're all part of the Army profession," Becker told last week's audience. "You're all valued members of the team, not just here at Fort Jackson. While they don't know you personally, the senior Army leadership appreciates your service, and this is not what they wanted. But this is where we're at."

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