Sat, Oct 29, 2011
'Temporary Pause In Effect For Some Operations' -- Cuts To CAP
Operations Could Be Sign Of Things To Come
While the folks of the Civil Air Patrol are trying to put as
positive a face as possible on these trying times, ANN has
confirmed that CAP operations are being severely restricted by the
nation's budget issues.
The CAP tells ANN that, 'To ensure Civil Air Patrol's continued
support for critical U.S. Air Force-assigned missions, some aspects
of the organization's operations are being temporarily paused
during the continuing federal budget uncertainty.'
"It is necessary to take these actions in order to ensure CAP is
able to support all 'real world' Air Force-assigned missions," said
CAP National Commander Maj. Gen. Chuck Carr, adding, "CAP's
emergency response services provided to communities across the
nation will continue uninterrupted."
Priority is being given to search and rescue, disaster
relief, air defense intercept and other critical missions
tasked by the Air Force, said Carr. CAP's National Executive
Committee decided on this approach in response to the reduced
funding authorization in effect for CAP. Reduced funding is also
impacting the Air Force and other Department of Defense
agencies. The situation will likely continue until Congress
and President Barack Obama approve the final Fiscal Year 2012 DoD
Appropriations Bill.
An internal communication sent to ANN shows a bit more dramatic
reach for this budget crisis. The memo, sent to 'Members of the
National Board' states that, "During a telephone meeting on 26
October, the NEC set priorities for use of limited Federal funds
during the current continuing budget resolution. Their
prioritization decision will allow CAP to continue to support
critical Air Force assigned search and rescue, disaster relief and
air defense intercept missions. These actions were taken as a
result of the reduced funding authorization CAP, the Air Force and
other Department of Defense (DoD) agencies are currently
experiencing while operating under limited budget authority. This
will more than likely continue until Congress and the President
approve the final FY12 DoD Appropriations Bill. CAP leaders are
unsure if Congress will pass the DoD budget by the 18 November
Continuing Resolution (CR) deadline or if they will extend the CR
like they did several times last year. The major difference this
year is that DoD (because of the Federal government budget
uncertainty) is funding CAP on a monthly basis instead of quarterly
and that has significantly reduced CAP's budget authority. In order
to ensure limited Federal funding is available for "real world" Air
Force directed missions, the following events/items will be paused
until DoD is able to significantly increase CAP's FY12 budget
authority."
Events/Items Paused
- All Air Force training and evaluation missions both air and
ground
- All cadet orientation flights
- All Counterdrug missions
- All aircraft maintenance movement "A9" flights
- All aircraft major maintenance. In most cases the aircraft will
be grounded if major maintenance is required. Minor maintenance
will continue. Any minor maintenance that exceeds $500 must be
approved in advance by NHQ/LG.
- All "B" and "C" missions except 1st AF directed "real world"
"B" missions (Note: Federal funds are used to offset major
maintenance expenses on Corporate missions so "C" missions have to
be curtailed as well.)
- Sending uniforms to new cadets
- Sending materials to new members
- All Federally funded travel (example: IG team travel)
- No overtime or funded travel for CAP employees including Wing
Administrators
- All vehicle maintenance will be postponed, with the exception
of emergency repairs, until funds are restored. Any emergency
maintenance that exceeds $250 must be approved in advance by
NHQ/LG.
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