Sequestration won't be pretty for Oklahoma bases

The cuts, called sequestration, are tied to the bitter 2011 fight over the debt ceiling. Part of that agreement to raise the nation's debt limit included $1 trillion in budget reductions over a 10-year period, with $500 billion being lopped off the Defense Department books.

The hope was that President Barack Obama and congressional leaders would later come to an agreement that would prevent defense from being hit so hard. It hasn't happened. The automatic cuts were supposed to begin Jan. 1 but that date got pushed back by two months during the recent fiscal cliff negotiations.

So March is when the ax is due to fall. If that happens, the report by Senate Armed Services Committee staff says, then the 14,000 civilian employees at Tinker Air Force Base would be furloughed and less repair work could be accomplished on aircraft that's vital to the Air Force fleet.