From NGAUS:
A budget shortfall is forcing most if not all states to postpone drill this month for members of the Army National Guard.
According to Guard officials, there is not enough money in the fiscal 2014 budget to pay for September training. The National Guard Bureau’s pay and allowance account is short approximately $100 million, and states are postponing so the Guard doesn’t spend more than was allotted for the year.
Maj. Gen. Deborah Ashenhurst, the adjutant general of Ohio, announced the change to her troops in a video posted to the Ohio National Guard YouTube page Aug. 29.
She calls the action a “last resort,” and said she knows the change in plans will be an “inconvenience at best” for Army Guardsmen around the state.
“After implementing many additional actions, including canceling spending in other areas, we in Ohio have determined that we must take this action,” said Ashenhurst in the video.
Maj. Gen. Frank Vavala, the adjutant general of Delaware, called the situation “kind of embarrassing” in a story in The News Journal today. Though his state did not overspend its own account, officials made the decision to return $450,000 and help the Guard Bureau meet its obligations.
“I’m very disturbed by it, because it affects the lives of my soldiers,” Vavala said. “I’m extremely upset that this has taken place.”
The Maryland Guard estimates that approximately 3,700 soldiers could be affected. The Illinois, Hawaii and Guam Army Guards have also postponed September training. Officials attribute the shortfall to higher-than-planned training attendance, high pass rates at schools and fewer mobilizations.
State Guard officials and The Associated Press report that the Guard Bureau will ask Congress for permission to redirect funding from other sources into the pay and allowances account. That request is expected to be approved, but it won’t happen before lawmakers get back to town next week.
If approved, states will likely be able to complete training the last weekend of the month. A possible alternative is that Guardsmen will have 13 drill weekends next year to make up for the fiscal 2014 shortfall.
This is the second time drill weekends have been shuffled this fiscal year. Many Guardsmen were forced to change plans during the government shutdown in October 2013.