News

BND Responds to Budget Sequestration

The Board of Directors of Broward Navy Days, Inc. wrote the following letter to members of the South Florida Congressional Delegation in response to the impending federal budget sequestration: 

February 10, 2013

Dear Senators and Representatives, 

Broward Navy Days, Inc. (BND) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is supporting and advocating for the United States Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Merchant Marine. Our 23rd annual Fleet Week Port Everglades (FWPEV) is scheduled for April 29 - May 6, 2013. FWPEV is a unique South Florida opportunity to honor and celebrate our maritime armed forces. It provides a wide variety of recreational, vocational and community service activities and allows the Navy to showcase its fleet force capabilities to citizens, businessmen and women and our political leaders.

The military’s success in fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan while responding to major humanitarian crises throughout the world is a tribute to their dedication and professionalism. I urge you, our elected officials of Congress to provide the required resources for our military to continue to carry out their important missions. As the Navy prepares contingency planning to respond to sequestration, BND feels a proactive need to point out the benefits of FWPEV. Accordingly, I am requesting your support to hold the line on Sea Services funding. Furthermore, I emphatically request that you sponsor or strongly endorse a defense appropriations bill for fiscal year 2013 to eliminate the pending Department of Defense (DoD) sequestration cuts and the strangling uncertainties that exist today. 

We understand that budget reductions are necessary and inevitable and stand ready to join you in finding a solution to the current budgetary impasse. However, sequestrations as it currently exists, will only result in a lose-lose outcome for our nation's security, our war-fighters, and quite possibly tens of thousands of your constituents in the 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, and 24th Congressional Districts who benefit from FWPEV.

Patriots serving patriots. Broad community support is what makes our magic possible. Unlike many Navy Weeks around the country organized by DoD, FWPEV is primarily a PRIVATELY FUNDED initiative financially supported through membership, sponsorship, private contributions, special events and in-kind donations. As of February 10, 2013 our organization has already laid out tens of thousands of dollars towards this year’s events. We would be materially and irreparably harmed should DoD cancel FWPEV at this late date. Please consider the many desirable benefits we provide; 

• Building Community Relationships: Hundreds of Sailors, Marines and Coast Guardsmen enthusiastically visit children in local hospitals, salute distinguished veterans who bravely served in generations past, speak to students at area schools, and provide volunteer manpower for nonprofit projects throughout South Florida. Onboard ships, thousands of area residents participate in guided tours, gaining a first hand look at the challenges of life at sea. For our servicemen and women, hours are long, pay is modest, quarters are tight and long family separations are part of the job. Each visitor disembarks with a new admiration for sacrifices of military service and personal cost to our heroes who pay a price to defend our nation each day.
• Vocational Development: Shore leave provides many options for teams from visiting ships to explore future career opportunities in our community with law enforcement, emergency response units and with civilian workers supporting international trade and the maritime industry. Sea Cadets, ROTC units, and school tours provide students exposure to opportunities in the military and resources available to pursue technical training and post-secondary education. Our Damage Control Olympics provides a challenging daylong series of competitions where servicemen learn private sector hazard control while Galley Wars and Celebrity Chef events allow culinary specialists to learn of opportunities after military service.
• Broad Civic and Service Organization Outreach: Several councils of the United State’s Navy League, American Legion, Veteran’s of Foreign Wars, Kiwanis Clubs, Rotary Clubs, Chambers of Commerce and other civic and service organizations coordinate with FWPEV to host receptions to honor and recognize our active duty military. These events range from officers meeting with local business leaders that influence policy locally, nationally and internationally to recognition of sailors for outstanding service and businesses that support employees that serve in the Guard and Reserve. 

Today, the Navy is globally engaged. Half of its ships are at sea and 43% are forward deployed. The Navy struggles to meet current requirements with only 284 ships, our smallest fleet since 1916, and 41 fewer than the 325 ships the Secretary of the Navy has validated are needed to adequately meet current and future requirements and possible challenges. The Navy’s situation and overall mission is quite different than the other services. Their worldwide responsibilities will continue nearly as intensely as today after pullback from Central Asia with only a minor reduction in deployments and overseas presence anticipated. The nation cannot afford to downsize the Navy because it is already undersized today. Unfounded cuts for the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard will have a severe effect, one that we cannot afford to incur in view of national security issues on the horizon.

Our members fully understand the economic challenge facing our country and the tough decisions that need to be made. The cost after a decade of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan has been $1.2 Trillion - less than the debt the government added last year alone. We can solve our fiscal problems without cutting the Sea Services and incurring a negative impact on our security or undermining the local benefits of hosting FWPEV. 

On behalf of the tens of thousands of members, sponsors, supporters and friends of FWPEV, I request your support to hold the line on Sea Services funding and endorse a defense appropriations bill for fiscal year 2013. As fellow countrymen, I very much admire and respect your representation of our community in Congress and your important work on behalf of the United States.

Jean-Sebastien Gros
Chairman, Board of Directors