The stupid thing is thm not offering buy outs. I know so many older civilians who would take a buy out vs waiting 2-3 years to retire

I'd even consider taking a buy out to have money to find pursuing another path.

Anonymous wrote:I don't see how some places are going to cut 20% unless they assume the fired civilians will be replaced, more expensively, by contractors or military. Some offices are really small (like mine)

What I'm hearing is the functions will be cut. So, it won't be doing the same or more with fewer people but doing less with fewer people. The ground forces were always going to be downsized as the wars wound down and there's definitely space to trim billets out of the majors staffs (the COCOMs and OSD got huge during the last decade). But this is a very steep contraction, compared to history, so I think there's real risk that one's losing important functionality. And, yeah, spending a ton of money to axe things quickly. I think in most offices natural attrition and billets that have been open during the hiring freezes will pretty much cover the gap and there won't be huge RIFs.

1 day a week furlough is a 20% cut

I don't see how some places are going to cut 20% unless they assume the fired civilians will be replaced, more expensively, by contractors or military. Some offices are really small (like mine)

It's the same salary scale as everyone else (i.e. GS unless you're an academic hired under title X or something) but between furlough days and the announced 20% cuts in OSD and the JS it's not, as people have noted, the most stable work environment right now. I think the army will also see quite a lot of budgetary turmoil that'll impact the civilian workforce. Navy might be your best best. But, really, not a path I'd go down right now.

DoD civilian here. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone for a variety of reasons including the complete instability. It is a horrible feeling.

Contracting work is very unstable right now....To save billets/govies, DOD is cutting back on contractors. Unfortunately, many of the govies that are being saved have been trained as PM's rather than performers. The contractors seem to do much of the real work while the gov't supervises. Will be interesting to see what happens without the contractors.

Most are on the GS pay scale. However, no one can hire you currently due to the hiring freeze (unless you want to come in as a contractor with intention on switching).

Are they similar to other Fed salaries?