Sunday, September 23, 2012
YOUNGSTOWN
The Youngstown Air Reserve Station was granted a six-month “strategic pause” in equipment and manpower cuts proposed for the 910th Airlift Wing housed at the Vienna facility.
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced Saturday that the pause is part of the six-month budget deal passed by Congress last week.
The Air Force had proposed a shift in aircraft that would have resulted in a loss of two C-130 Hercules cargo and troop aircraft at the 910th. The pause measure, expected to be signed by President Barack Obama, will preserve the current number of C-130s and personnel at the air base for at least the next six months.
“The men and women of the 910th Airlift Wing at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station carry out a unique mission by serving as the sole fixed-wing aerial spray unit in the Defense Department,” Brown said.
“Throughout the appropriations process, I have been proud to vote to keep intact the 12 planes and corresponding personnel at YARS. I will continue to fight to ensure that the men and women of YARS, and their vital and one-of-a-kind mission, are protected in the months and years to come,” he said.
Earlier in the year, the Senate Committee on Appropriations recommended a one-year “strategic pause” for the Youngstown Air Reserve Station to protect the station and its 910th Airlift Wing from reductions proposed in the Fiscal Year 2013 Defense Appropriations bill, which runs from Oct. 1, 2013, through Sept. 30, 2014.
In its budget proposal, the Air Force proposed a shift in aircraft that would have resulted in a loss of two C-130s at the base and a net reduction of 97 traditional, part-time reservists who do their monthly training at the base and 33 full-time equivalent federal civilian employees and Air Reserve technicians.