National Guard Hit by Furloughs From Sequestration

Florida's National Guard is about to be hit with furlough days because of sequestration.

The News Service of Florida is reporting that nearly 1,000 Florida National Guard members will face furloughs for one day per period, starting in April. The furlough days will extend through September.

On the Florida National Guard website, the following quote was posted Thursday:

"Furloughs will impair our ability to do important work, which will harm national security: military technicians and civilians maintain our equipment, facilities and aircraft, provide medical support, handle contracting and financial management, and much more," a news release reads. "We are deeply concerned about the negative effects of furloughs on the morale and effectiveness of our valued uniformed military technicians and civilian workforce."

Guardsmen and women who are affected are expected to be notified today.

• In addition, the deployments of 400 Florida soldiers are expected to be delayed because their medical exams have been cut.

• Federal tuition assistance is discontinued for the remainder of the fiscal year, according to the Florida National Guard website.

• By Sept. 1, there will be 85 layoffs from cutbacks in anti-drug operations and public school education programs.

Resources

Florida National Guard Armory, 514 N Howard Avenue Tampa, FL 33606

Florida Air National Guard's 290th Joint Communications Support Squadron 290 JCSS, MacDill Air Force Base, Tampa.

Office of Veterans Affairs, (Main Office in Brandon Area), 10119 Windhorst Road Tampa, FL 33619