Yokota Air Base is home to the 374th Airlift Wing, 5th Air Force and U.S. Forces Japan in western Tokyo. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes)
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — A federal hiring freeze ordered in January by President Donald Trump is affecting an office that provides mental health support to airmen and their families at this airlift hub in western Tokyo.
Yokota’s Integrated Resilience Office has paused hiring for one position while another employee is preparing to depart, director Julie Wilbanks said Thursday after a town hall meeting for civilian workers at the base’s Friendship Chapel.
Every U.S. military base is required to have a resilience office to oversee programs aimed at preventing suicide, sexual assault, child abuse and domestic violence, Wilbanks’ supervisor, Gloria Bryant, said by phone Monday.
The freeze is affecting people trying to move or leave jobs on installations throughout Japan, said Bryant, chief of the five-person office.
“The hiring freeze is an issue, not only for resilience offices, but throughout the Department of Defense,” she said. “Any time there is a stop in the flow, that impacts how our teams work together.”
Trump’s Jan. 20 order required each executive agency to draft a plan within 90 days to trim its workforce, after which the hiring freeze may expire, except for the IRS.
However, the proposed job cuts — targeting tens of thousands of positions in the Departments of Education and Veterans Affairs, among others — are part of Trump’s broader plan to restructure the federal workforce.
The commander of Yokota’s 374th Airlift Wing, Col. Richard McElhaney, addressed about 200 people at last week’s town hall regarding concerns over Trump’s executive orders affecting federal employees.
Stars and Stripes was barred from reporting on what was said during the gathering.
“I requested a forum with Yokota Air Base civilian employees to synchronize information on all the policy updates that affect the civilian workforce,” McElhaney said in comments provided Friday by base spokeswoman Capt. Emma Quirk.
“This was a productive conversation that helped level our understanding and allowed our members to share their perspectives or hear from subject matter experts on the latest updates,” he said. “Yokota is one community that takes care of one another. Open, candid dialogue and mutual respect are just some ways that we do that.”
Air Force spouse Christine Campo, who attended the town hall, said the hiring freeze has left her job prospects in limbo.
Campo, who has been unemployed since arriving at Yokota from Texas three years ago, has volunteered at the resilience office while studying psychology. She expected to start working there this month.
“I had a tentative job offer and had completed my initial onboarding,” she said after the meeting.
In November, McElhaney promoted the resilience office’s work during a two-day stand-down event focused on mental health and team building. It included mental health discussions, team-building exercises, a comedy show, and a fair featuring local sports and activity clubs.
“Your ability to bounce back in the face of adversity is critical to Yokota’s mission success and our nation’s ability to guarantee a free and open Indo-Pacific,” McElhaney said that month in a news release about the event.
Approximately 500 civilians work at Yokota, Quirk said Friday. In addition to the wing, the base is home to U.S. Forces Japan and 5th Air Force.
Military civilian workers overseas have faced uncertainty in recent weeks as Trump’s administration pursues a broad overhaul of the federal workforce. Some measures, including the firing of thousands of probationary workers, have been blocked by the courts.
Quirk referred questions about federal employment at Yokota to the Air Force secretary’s office. The service’s press desk did not answer calls early Monday outside business hours in Washington, D.C.
