USA med økonomisk tullball.... Alvorlig for NATO

Budget cuts leave Air Force pilots twisting in the wind

By Steve Vogel, Tuesday, May 28, 12:47 AM E-mail the writer

at SEYMOUR JOHNSON AFB, N.C. — The “World Famous Rocketeers” were flying high two months ago. The Air Force fighter squadron had returned safely with its F-15E Strike Eagles and aircraft crews from a six-month Middle East deployment, and in March the entire wing passed a readiness evaluation with an unusually high rating.

That was then. In April, the Air Force ordered the Rocketeers — more formally, the 336th Fighter Squadron — to stop flying because of the automatic budget cuts known as sequestration.

Now, the squadron’s two dozen F-15s are parked underneath canopies on the flight line, with red covers over their gaping afterburners to keep out birds and critters. Glum pilots find themselves with lots of time for softball and community projects. And the Air Force has one less fighter squadron available to fight.

“I have zero readiness and zero combat capability right now,” said Lt. Col. Jim Howard, the 41-year-old squadron commander. “It’s extremely frustrating, knowing the unit that I had two months ago compared to where we are now.”

It’s a story repeated at bases across the country and the world, where the Air Force has stood down 13 combat squadrons, nearly one-third of its active-duty fighter and bomber squadrons, to meet a $600 million reduction in money available for flying and readiness dictated by the mandatory cuts.