President Donald Trump has imposed a freeze hiring policy across federal agencies and military families are slowly experiencing its effects. Child care programs in Army bases have been suspended as a result, affecting thousands of military parents and their kids. Even military veterans are affected.
In Fort Knox, military families have been advised that child care facilities will close down at the end of February. The same thing has happened in a U.S. military base in Germany, which has sent a memo to all concerned servicemen about shutting down, ATTN reported.
Child care staff members who have left their jobs, for one reason or another, cannot be replaced in the next few months due to a Presidential Memorandum, which was released on Jan. 23. Hence, the facilities are forced to close or not accept new enrollees in the programs due to staff shortages.
Veterans expecting to have their benefits, medical care and loans processed should expect delays as well. Some say that for as long as the policy remains in effect it could potentially become a public health or public safety issue. It's still unclear when the Trump government would lift the policy's ban.
On Feb. 1, the Department of Defense apparently issued a memo to correct the freeze hiring policy. According to Military.Com, 16 job categories should be exempted for military personnel and its civilian staff, such as custodial workers, cooks, child care program instructors or administrative support assistants.
The problem, however, is the process to hiring additional workers could still be long and tedious, thus still effectively delaying or closing operations temporarily. A succeeding memo from the Army's manpower and reserve affairs stated base commanders must still submit requests and obtain permission before filling civilian posts. "It's created an additional level of bureaucracy," U.S. Marine Will Fischer said.
Are you part of a military family? Have you been experiencing a delay in services? Sound off in the comments section below.
