Roby: Fort Rucker flight training hours restored

Flexibility given to the Army to deal with sequestration appears to have resulted in the restoration of originally-planned flight training at Fort Rucker.

U.S. Rep. Martha Roby, R-Montgomery, said Friday she received official word from Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno that the Army’s original plan to cut approximately 37,000 flight hours and 500 training positions from Fort Rucker would no longer be necessary thanks to a restoration of funds.

Odierno testified in a House sub-committee hearing last month that the cuts would still happen. However, in a letter from Odierno to Roby Friday, Odierno stated the information offered in the hearing “is no longer accurate,” and that new funding flexibility would allow the Army to “restore aviation training at Fort Rucker.”

“The Secretary (of the Army) and I stated that Fort Rucker could not train approximately 500 students at Fort Rucker due to sequestration impacts. The Army has since been able to distribute sufficient funding … to restore aviation training at Fort Rucker.”

Roby credited the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2013 with giving the Army enough flexibility to restore the funding.

“One of the worst aspects of sequestration is its arbitrary nature. When we passed the Consolidated and Further Appropriations Act, we included language aimed at allowing commanders to set priorities and adjust their budgets accordingly. I am pleased to know that this flexibility has been utilized, and that cuts to the Army Aviation Center of Excellence at Fort Rucker have been averted.”

Odierno’s letter stated the consequences of the reduced flight training at Fort Rucker would have been “catastrophic, resulting in a multi-year impact on aviation flight crew production and readiness.”

Odierno said the backlog of flight students waiting for training would have been 620 by the beginning of the 2014 fiscal year.

“This course of action was unacceptable and drove the decision to restore sufficient funding that, coupled with efficiencies such as a contract renegotiation and some early year maintenance savings, now enables the training at levels that prevent a large backlog,” Odierno’s letter states.

Roby said she believes sequestration cuts are still unfair to the military.

“While I remain opposed to the way sequestration cuts disproportionately target the military, giving the Department of Defense more flexibility in dealing with budget cuts is an important first step to easing the blow and maintaining our fighting force,” Roby said.