From Joseph J. Piek
Joint Base Public Affairs Officer
Joint Base Lewis-McChord Public Affairs

I’ve had multiple news queries over the past few days about sequestration and furloughs, and its impact at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. I offer you the following statement to provide you the latest current information:

“If nothing changes, the Department of Defense will pursue furlough as a result of sequestration, to be implemented no earlier than mid-April. We remain hopeful that our nation’s leadership will resolve mandatory spending cuts related to sequestration between now and April to affect whether or how furlough is implemented.

JBLM has approximately 16,200 civilian employees. Between ten and eleven thousand employees could experience the furlough; however, civilian employees will not be directly impacted for approximately six weeks.

All civilian employees  – other than those designated as ‘excepted’ – will experience up to 22 non-sequential days (or 176 hours) of furlough between mid-April and the end of the fiscal year in September. In other words, civilian employees on JBLM who are furloughed will not work, and not be paid, for one day per week beginning mid-April through the end of September. Civilian employees who will be furloughed will be notified of their status and proposed furlough dates at least 30 days in advance.

‘Excepted’ employees are specific individuals who fall into the criteria established by the Secretary of Defense – basically those deployed in support of the warfight; or those designated life, health, or safety individuals. We will seek furlough exceptions for critical employees.

The Joint Base Commander sent a message to the JBLM Installation Management Command (IMCOM) workforce on Thursday, Feb. 28, to ensure they have the most current information and decisions regarding the potential for furlough. The furlough will place additional strain on our civilian workforce and for many of our employees the furlough will be a source of frustration and friction. The vital role each and every civilian employee plays in the operation and future of JBLM is crucial. 

We recognize the financial burden that the furlough will impose on many of our employees, and we will work together to seek ways to minimize impacts on individuals. We plan to bring a variety of lenders and financial counselors together to meet with individual employees to assess their situations and offer advice and solutions.

The general approach at JBLM for IMCOM employees, and others working alongside us on the installation where practical, will be to designate Fridays during the furlough period as reduced operations and reduced support days. This concept of  minimal/reduced operations on Fridays provides predictability to our employees and our customers. Additionally, this concept is being synchronized with our supported mission customers, so that they will know what to expect and how to appropriately plan.

Our priority during this time of fiscal uncertainty continues to be to provide Service members and their families the best possible facilities, and services to both live and work, understanding that there will be reduced services, longer wait times, and fewer personnel available to provide necessary services due to the furlough.”

Finally, over the years we have done a good job of telling the story of our Service members and their Families, but there is a general lack of knowledge about what civilian employees do on Joint Base Lewis-McChord. For that reason, we’ve developed the attached document “Civilian jobs on JBLM from A to Z.”  You will see that JBLM is a city, and we provide our city and our customers (Service Members; Families; DoD civilians; retirees; contractors, etc.)  with infrastructure and support.

Sincerely,  Joe Piek

 

Jobs and Services performed by Civilian Employees at JBLM from A to Z

A             Airfield operations; Architects; Ammunition supply point; Air traffic control; Army Career and Alumni Program; Alcohol and Substance Abuse Program; Accounting and budget office; Academic & career advising; American Red Cross; Audits; Administrative assistants; Ambulance services

B             Behavioral health; Boiler plant; Barber shops; Billeting; Biological Sciences; Bowling centers; Blood Bank personnel

C             Commissaries; Child development centers; Central Issue Facility; Casualty assistance office; Contracting; Civilian Personnel Advisory Center; Computer Lab; Clinical Treatment; Community Partnerships; Chapels; Colleges/Universities; Craft Shops; clubs; Clinical System administrators; Care Provider Support Program; Child and Family Assistance Center; Comprehensive Soldier & Family Fitness; Cultural Resources; Counselors; Community Services

D             Doctors; Dentists; Dining facilities; Defense Printing Service; Defense finance and accounting service; Deployment and Demobilization support; Domestic violence reporting and prevention; Drinking water

E             Exceptional Family Member program; Education centers; Electricians; Environmental planning; Emergency room; Equal Employment Opportunity; Emergency communications center (911); Employee Assistance Program; EMT Program; Exchanges (formerly BX/PX); Emergency Management coordinators  

F             Fire fighter; Family advocacy;  Force protection and anti-terrorism; First Sergeants barracks program; Financial management; Exchanges; Family Readiness Support Assistants; Forestry; Fuel handlers; Family Resource Center; Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) office; Facilities/Maintenance; Fish and Wildlife

G             Gate guards; gymnasiums; gas stations;; GI Bill Counseling; GoArmyEd; Geographic regional support; golf courses

H             Housing office; Heavy equipment operators; Heroes at Home 2; horse stables; Health and Fitness; Historians; Housekeeping; Human Resources; Hearing Conservation Program; Hazardous materials handling

I               ID card center; Information Technology; Intramural sports programs; Immunizations

J              Joint Personal Property office; Job Fairs

K             Key Spouse program; Kids on Site (CYSS program)

L             Law Enforcement; Legal assistance; Libraries; Lodging; Logistics; Laboratory technicians; Labor and Delivery 

M             Museums; Mission Support Training Center; Military clothing sales; Maintenance (facilities, equipment, vehicles, aircraft); Mobilization support; mail and distribution center; Morgue; Medical records; Medic and physician training programs; Midwives; Medical Evaluation Boards

N             Network enterprise center (computer, phone, signal); Northwest Guardian newspaper; Natural Resources Management; Nurses; Northwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility; Nurse Case Managers; National Center for Telehealth & Technology

O             Outdoor Recreation centers; OBGYN services; OPSEC; Optometry; Occupational therapists; Oncology; Orthopedics

P             Public affairs; Physical Therapists; Public Works; Plumbers; Protocol; Pharmacy services; Pediatric care; Property book; Psychologists; Physician Assistants; Public Health; Passports; Privacy Act; Personnel Actions/Processing; Patient Advocacy; Patient Administration; Pain Management Clinic; Provost Marshal; Paramedics; Pollution Prevention; Pest Control

Q             Quality assurance

R             Range support; Recreation centers; Real property management; Restaurants/concessionaires; Religious Support Office; Redeployment; Retirement Services; Resume Services; Risk Reduction Program; Records Management; Radiology/Imaging; Referral specialists 

S             Sexual assault response coordinators; Suicide prevention; Soldier and Family Assistance Center; Survivor outreach services; Safety office; Schools liaison; Strategic Deployment Facility; Shoppettes; Social Workers; Soldier Readiness Processing; swimming pools; Sports office; Surgeons; Security; Sports Therapy; Superfund Site Cleanup; Sustainability; Storage Tanks; Spill Prevention and Response

T             Transition assistance program; Transportation (rail/unit movement); Theaters; Troops to Teachers; Trauma care; Traumatic Brain Injury Clinic, TMP (Govt. vehicle motor pool)

U             Utility maintenance (Heat, electricity, etc.)

V             Visitor Centers; Veterinarian services; Volunteer services coordinator; vehicle registration; Visual Information Services (photo & video support); Veterans Assistance; Voting Assistance; Video Teleconferencing

W            Watch office (operations centers); Warrior Forge (ROTC); Wastewater treatment plant; Warrior Transition Battalion; Welders; Woodworking; Warrior adventure quest; Waste management; Warehouses; Wellness Center; Website administrators; Wildland Fire Suppression

X             X-ray technicians

Y             Youth services; Yakima Training Center; YMCA partnerships

Z             Zumba instructors; Zoological studies of rare/endangered species