Pope shutdown recovery slow

[unhappycamper]

http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2013/10/29/1290289?sac=fo.militaryBy Drew Brooks



Pope shutdown recovery slow
By Drew Brooks
Published: 09:17 PM, Mon Oct 28, 2013

The federal government is open for business, but the effects of the shutdown could linger at Pope Field for as long as a year, officials said.

From canceled training to a pile-up of maintenance demands, Pope was particularly hard hit in part because of its reliance on 1,200 Reserve airmen who were unable to work or train during the 16-day shutdown this month.

The backlog will take months to overcome because crews no longer have the benefit of built-in bottlenecks in maintenance and training, officials said. Without those bottlenecks, there isn't enough manpower to do all the necessary work, officials said.

When coupled with cuts made during sequestration, Air Force Col. Sharon Johnson said, officials at Pope were close to taking dramatic steps to address their budget issues. Johnson is commander of the 44th Maintenance Group.