If the Army’s 101st Airborne Division Commander knows what impact the upcoming “fiscal cliff” will have on the unit, he’s not saying. Major General James McConville leads the 24,000 soldiers in the 101st based at Fort Campbell. McConville says he doesn’t want to find out what the automatic defense cuts required by the 2011 Budget Control Act will mean for his soldiers.
“I don’t know yet how that will relate to the 101st Airborne Division," says McConville. "But I would hope that, given what the senior leadership has said in the military, that we don’t get to that point.”
McConville says those military leaders have called the cuts “catastrophic.” The 101st shares Fort Campbell with several other military units, as well as 8,000 civilians and 53,000 family members, all of whom would feel the squeeze if Congress doesn't reach a solution.
