Sequestration Hitting Army Hard

Congress has been whining about "support the troops" but this pretty much proves they don't really practice what they preach. They could have fixed what they caused years ago. They didn't.

With sequestration looming, area’s economic future unclear
Killeen Daily Herald
JC Jones and Jacob Brooks
May 17, 2015

SHRINKING ARMY As the end of combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan loomed in 2011 and 2012, military leaders began a plan to shrink the size of the Army from about 570,000 active-duty troops to 490,000 by 2020. However, when sequestration was enacted by Congress, a series of automatic budget cuts began in March 2013, cutting about $1.1 trillion — including more than $450 billion in defense spending — from the federal budget through 2021.

In August 2012, Ashley Kristof and her husband opened a 900-square-foot restaurant on Veterans Memorial Boulevard in Killeen, blocks away from Fort Hood, where droves of hungry soldiers pour out every weekday during their lunch breaks.

Thanks to those hungry soldiers, the gamble of opening a restaurant — an industry where as many as 60 percent of new establishments fail in the first year — was a success.

The Kristofs’ restaurant, The Gyro Nook, now has a staff of eight and expansion plans are underway.

“I kind of need to open a second location,” Kristof said. The second Gyro Nook is set to open next month in Harker Heights, and the owners are contemplating moving the original location to a bigger building to keep up with demand.

“They come in groups of four or five at a time,” Kristof said. Up to 50 soldiers per hour will pass through during the peak lunch time, she added.
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