The Iowa National Guard is expected to lose 8 to 10-percent of its federal funding from the federal budget cuts known as sequestration. The Iowa Guard’s spokesman, Colonel Greg Hapgood, says the cuts will mean that 1,100 Iowa civilian defense workers will take 22 days of unpaid furloughs over a five month period.
Hapgood says they are trying to manage the cuts in the best way possible. “It’s been a number of years since we’ve had any kinds of draconian cuts or furloughs like this and so we’ve lost that body of knowledge of how to best weather those kinds of cuts,” Hapgood explains. “We’ve really had to go back to the basics. And you know, that’s the silver lining in this particular case.”
One of the steps the guard will take to cut costs according to Hapgood, is to delay the purchase of new equipment and reduce maintenance work.