Unpaid Furlough Hits 7,250 Civilian Employees, Tuesday at Fort Bragg

D-Day took place at noon on Tuesday, Oct. 1 for approximately 38 percent of Fort Bragg's civilian personnel when they received their furlough notices. Overall approximately 7,250 Department of Defense civilian employees were placed on an indefinite furlough.

"There is no way around this, everyone will be affected by this furlough," said Col. Jeffrey Sanborn, Fort Bragg's garrison commander. "We will do everything we can to ensure our units, soldiers, their families, our civilian workforce and retirees are supported to the best of our abilities."

Emergency service personnel, medical, police and firefighters will continue to work to fulfill the safety mission of Fort Bragg. Fort Bragg is home to four major military commands: the U.S. Army Forces Command; U.S. Army Reserve Command, the 18th Airborne Corps and the U.S. Army Special Operations Command.

"With each of the furlough letters, the employee received an SF 8 which allows them to file for unemployment benefits, " said Fort Bragg spokesman Tom McCollum to the media on Tuesday afternoon. "That's a first, because the last time we went through our admin furlough, that was not allowed. This time the federal government made a point to ensure that document was in hand with all the notification letters."

When asked if the soldiers would be used as needed to fill personnel slots, the answer seemed unlikely that it could get to that point.

"That's a command directed decision," said McCollum. "We don't try to do borrowed military manpower because normally if we do that, it means we have taken that soldier out of the job he was assigned out for and that job, especially at this time in military history, is very critical for support of our operations."

After suffering a 20 percent cut in pay with the most recent round of furloughs this past summer, this news is not reassuring for many in our community. 

"I just got back in the swing of things after the first furlough, I guess we'll go back to our old way of budgeting for life's expenses," said Michelle Compien, a finance specialist for over 18 years at Fort Bragg. "We've seen this before, but I did not think it would really come to fruition."

All employees are encouraged to stay home, not volunteer to work from home, and to remain in contact with supervisors and visit the Office of Personnel Management's website for updates.