Joint Base Lewis-McChord, near Tacoma, may have some tough times ahead. With massive federal spending cuts on the horizon, the base is preparing itself for some big changes. Colonel Donald Goode runs the Madigan Army Medical Center’s pharmacy department, which could very well be one of the victims of cuts. Cooke and his employees serve the base, filling thousands of prescriptions each day.
Rumors of sequestration furloughs are swirling, and for good reason. There are over 16,000 civilian workers at Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM), whose jobs include everything from running the library to checking IDs at entries to the base. They serve over 50,000 soldiers, airmen and their families. That is a lot of people. And a lot of people are needed to keep their base up and running. But furloughs are likely to happen, most likely in the form of civilian employees being required to take Fridays off, with no pay, starting at the end of April until late September.
Despite the leering bad news, Colonel Goode is keeping a positive outlook. He told King 5 news, “We’ll just have to work a little harder. The mission doesn’t change.”