EndSequestration - National Military Family Association

The Yellow Ribbon is Unraveling
Military Families Share the Pain of Sequestration
#EndSequestration
Our Nation’s military families need your help! This summer, military families
got a small taste of how ten years of the sequestration menace could disrupt
their communities, damage their quality of life, and threaten service members’
readiness to protect our Nation. They discovered sequestration equals more
difficulty in getting care for their sick child, delays in arranging moves, and
reduced training for the service member. As they encountered the difficulties
caused by the arbitrary and seemingly irresponsible results of sequestration,
military families realized how much their service members’ ability to protect
our Nation is now at risk.
“Sequestration was
the thing that was
never supposed
to happen.”
- GEN Martin E. Dempsey
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
www.militaryfamily.org/sequestration
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“The things we have to do
under sequestration are
not strategic -they’re
dumb.”
The National Military Family Association—in cooperation with Macho Spouse,
Military Partners and Families Coalition, MilitaryOneClick, Military Spouse
Magazine and Spouse Buzz—asked families to share their stories and photos
of how sequestration is affecting them and their communities. We present this
album to you and all of our Nation’s leaders as evidence that sequestration is
not a painless way to reduce the deficit.
Sequestration is unraveling the yellow ribbon of military family support.
Please keep our military families strong. #EndSequestration!
- Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter
#EndSequestration
www.militaryfamily.org/sequestration
Joyce Wessel Raezer
Excutive Director
National Military Family Association
Jacey Eckhart
Editor in Chief
SpouseBUZZ
Babette Maxwell
Co-Founder & Creative Officer
Military Spouse Magazine
Ariana Bostian-Kentes
President
Mlitary Partners & Families Coalition
Chris Pape
Founder/Senior Producer
Macho Spouse
Jennifer Pilcher
Founder & President
MilitaryOneClick
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BUCKLEY AIR FORCE BASE, CO
- Sequestration is being blamed
for lack of grounds care around
an active duty base. CE (civil
engineers) has been tasked with
cutting the grass, in addition to
their zillion other duties, which
means it does not get done often
if at all. The hot water heater
cannot be repaired according to
CE because of budget constraints.
FORT HOOD, TX - I am sending you a picture of what sequestration will affect.
Why should we stay in the military if there are no benefits left for us? Why
shouldn't my husband get out and use his Human Resources Masters Degree in the
civilian world instead of us having to endure more deployments, more separation
from our families, all while Congress tells us they don't care about us and the
sacrifices we make? Apparently Congress sees us as nothing more than a number,
so obviously they need the faces of a military family to see who they are truly
affecting. Stop sequestration and do the job that we elected you to do.
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Longer wait times at OB and clinic appointments. Furlough-day closures of clinics,
making appointments harder to get, and the OB office is short-staffed. One nurse told
me that her stress level was so high that she had an interview the next day at 7-Eleven;
a nurse would seriously rather work at 7-Eleven than at a military hospital?
PALMER, AK - My family is coming up on our 5th deployment. My husband
has been here for only half, if that, of my son’s life. He has been blown up and
has sustained many injuries. He still continues to love and takes great pride in this
great country. I teach at a school, which is located on an Army installation and see
Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, AZ
first hand the sacrifices that our military children make. If I could, I would sacrifice
LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, VA - Air Combat Command (ACC) has made the
to what we have earned. No good can come from this!
the Navy ones.
everything I have or will ever have for my military children. I am absolutely
disheartened, sickened, and outraged that it has even been discussed to make cuts
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decision to fund NO base libraries, despite the cost savings to airmen, as well
as HIGH satisfaction ratings. Air Force libraries are probably going the way of
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Hanscom Air Force Base, MA - When I had my baby in April of this year,
we were unable to secure a pediatrician for her due to referral complications
caused by sequestration. Her newborn visit was an “emergency” visit because
there was no other way for her to be seen. In addition, I became very ill soon
after leaving the hospital after delivery, and when I called our clinic at Hanscom
AFB to be seen by my primary care doctor, I was informed that the clinic was
no longer servicing dependents and that I no longer had a doctor. No one
ever notified me of this. Because of our location, we are mandated to a military
treatment facility, and since ours was now closed to me, I was given no option
by the clinic staff or TRICARE other than to go to an emergency room and wait
with my 5 day old newborn for 11 hours for treatment. This is inexcusable!
In addition to the commissary being closed, I’m very concerned about Medical
being closed on Fridays and no [access to] 24-hour urgent care. And I’m
EXTREMELY concerned at the reduction in guards at the gates, severely reduced
WASHINGTON, D.C. - I’ve lost 6 days of pay, months before expecting our first
15 - 20 minutes just to reach that gate from housing. Not only is this inconvenient
from lost income to unprepared schools. Here’s a photo to show the stress as we
hours at some gates and complete closure. This is a very large installation and we
only have one gate open 24 hrs (and it is not near the civilian hospital). It can take
and causes back-ups, but in an emergency this could add 30 minutes or more
to the time it takes to reach the hospital by ambulance.
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child. So, I’m sure it stinks to have to shop in town and not at the commissary, but
there are much bigger problems with sequestration than the commissary,
prepare for a baby with less money.
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MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, NC - My wife is disabled and unable to
work so my income as a Sgt. in the Marine Corps is all we have to make a mortgage
payment each month and to feed our two young children. A cut to my pay and/or
benefits will result in the loss of my house and the inability to feed and take care
of my family. Is that what my family’s sacrifice is worth to my country? I am
a war vet having served in two Iraq operations and again in Afghanistan. I have
served my country for eight years now and was hoping to do my 20 if not more.
If [the military] is no longer going to make it possible for me to take care of my
family then I will have to get out and I have no other prospects to look forward to.
I am a Marine, I just don’t know how to be anything else.
Not only have we shortened our work day but, we are a 7-day-a-week operation
and now we are shorthanded all week because of our rotating schedules. And not
to mention the $700 a month I am losing. Yep, we will be losing our home.
“The money
is gone...”
- GEN Raymond T. Odierno, Army Chief of Staff
- John M. McHugh, Secretary of the Army
Number of flight hours cut from Army
aviation training, resulting in
500 fewer
pilots by the end of FY2013.
#EndSequestration
www.militaryfamily.org/sequestration
www.militaryfamily.org/sequestration
Source: Dept. of the Army Memo, August 14, 2013
Source: Joint Chiefs’ testimony, Feb. 2013
$3
billion
Shortfall faced by TRICARE in FY2013
due to the sequester.
www.militaryfamily.org/sequestration
Source: Army Times, 25 Feb. 2013
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37,000
Number of civilians that make up
the total workforce
in military hospitals and clinics
www.militaryfamily.org/sequestration
Source: Joint Chiefs’ Testimony, Feb. 2013
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MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, CA - The Youth Sports Fall sign up
started at 8:00 am. The community was notified via Facebook that a line started
around 6:30 am. When I had arrived towards 9:30 am, this was the line I was in.
It was extremely far and does not even account for those inside of the building, or
the people behind me. Since sequestration, the budget cuts have affected our
youth recreation so that there are a limited number of spots available.
Fort Myer, VA
FORT SILL, OK - I should not have to weigh paying out of pocket to use an urgent
care clinic, waiting for 8-12 hours in the ER, or not receiving care at all as
options when talking about my health care.
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We sacrifice so much to get small benefits such as the commissary. Congress
needs to remember that our military serves and protects our country... We are
on call every day, all day!
Seoul, South Korea
Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson, Anchorage, AK
RAMSTEIN, GERMANY - If you go to the Commissary on Wednesday, the produce
department is almost completely empty, not to mention the other shelves are
almost bare. And the check-out lines are ten times worse than they were before.
Our commissary is now closed two days until the end of Sept. Having to go off base
for things sure makes it harder and more expensive.
Fort Campbell, KY
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Ramstein, Germany
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MIDDLE EAST - My family is in a very HIGH COST area in the Middle East on
Permanent Change of Station orders. There is talk of taking away member’s
hazardous duty pay because families are allowed in our location. We get
security alerts on almost a daily basis. Our activities are restricted to essential
travel constantly, and we must be on alert for potential violence at all times.
There is nowhere in the states where I have been confined to my home, or had
a curfew, and feared for my child to go to school daily. This is not a game. End
Sequestration NOW.
LEXINGTON, KY - I work on the University of Kentucky Military Suicide and
WASHINGTON, D.C. - I have been enrolled in Tricare Prime since 2008. Due to
to sequestration. In December we will lose funding and the research will stop,
a specialist in the first place. I had no choice but to switch to Tricare Standard.
Bereavement Grant. We research the impact that military suicide has on survivors.
The time frame of this important research has been nearly cut in half due
regardless of its current stage. This is important research intended to help
understand what military survivors need.
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sequestration restrictions, my referral requests to see a specialist were denied.
Misdiagnosis and poor treatment from my doctor caused the problem that needed
Changing plans has resulted in many out of pocket medical expenses for our
family, but it was the only way to cure what would have been a life-long condition.
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NAVAL AIR STATION, JACKSONVILLE, FL - Sequestration has been very difficult on
the military community, including my own family. Cuts to health care clinic hours
My husband’s job has gotten increasingly more stressful. He and the few soldiers
medication or care, and unable to be seen for such a long period of time.
same time the unit attempts to somehow do more with less and expects to still be
have been particularly alarming. At our last location this made it a nearly two month
wait for an appointment of any kind. It is miserable to be ill, hurting, or in need of
he has have to do a lot of extra work to make up for required furlough days and
decreased budgets. Despite having their workload increase by a factor of 3, at the
able to function efficiently. The stress is so much that it is starting to physically
manifest in my husband - he has recently been complaining of chest pains
and insomnia despite being exhausted by the time he gets home every day.
KLAMATH FALLS, OR - I know for us, where we reside, we are paying out of our
own pocket to cover the short fall of BAH (Basic Allowance for Housing), if we
decided to stay within the BAH that would mean living in a sub-standard home
and in an unsafe neighborhood. Both of which we can’t quite do considering
we want our child to be in a safe and healthy environment. Sequestration is
going to truly hurt our military more so than we want to imagine, and it’s
already slowly beginning to happen.
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Veterans make up
44%
of the work force
that was furloughed
in FY2013.
Due to sequestration
spending cuts
84,000
pounds of cocaine
are coming into the US because
military ships and planes are not
available to intercept the shipments.
www.militaryfamily.org/sequestration
www.militaryfamily.org/sequestration
Sequestration
is illogical,
but it is
the law.
- GEN Martin E. Dempsey
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Source: Rear Adm. Charles D. Michael, Dir. Joint Interagency Task Force South, U.S. Coast Guard
In the second half of FY2013:
70%
Amount of cancelled naval ship
maintenance in private shipyards
100%
Amount of cancelled naval
aircraft maintenance
www.militaryfamily.org/sequestration
www.militaryfamily.org/sequestration
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PENNSYLVANIA - I am losing $600 a month! I went to see my representative and
was offered VA assistance brochures and assistance to find a part time job! I’m a
federal employee, so ‘VA assistance brochures’ aren’t going to help, let alone
buy food, diapers, or help pay my bills!
Source: Joint Chief’s testimony, Feb. 2013
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The men and woman who serve every day here and abroad worry their pay will
stop, some in hazardous territory, leaving their families behind to manage this
crisis. Cutting flying hours, BAH, health care and many other benefits of the military
is not going to keep us strong. It weakens us and leaves those who are active to
worry about their home life while they should be focused on their job.
JAPAN - Let me count the ways [sequestration has affected us]. Our commissary
is now open only four days a week. My job hours got cut 75%. My kid gets
furlough Fridays the first five weeks of school. Our MWR facilities drastically
These cuts would be a burden for all in the military. These decisions are causing
stress and affecting morale for military families. We are already dealing with
deployments, moves and frustrating health care.
cut hours and programming. The grass on base looks like a jungle because they
aren’t mowing weekly anymore. *
* While schools did not ultimately furlough staff in 2013, furloughs are still a threat in 2014.
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National Military Family Association
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Alexandria, VA 22302
Phone: 703.931.6632
Fax: 703.931.4600
www.MilitaryFamily.org
[email protected]
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© 2013 National Military Family Association