CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - Adjutant General Bill Burks says the automatic budget cuts will hurt the National Guard's readiness and overall operation in Nevada.

He says nearly 600 of his civilian technicians will lose 20 percent of their pay for 22 weeks beginning in April because of furloughs they'll have to take.

Burks told the Nevada Appeal that most of those technicians work in northern Nevada.

Some 260 of 333 Army National Guard technicians are in the north and all but two of 249 Air National Guard technicians are in the north.

Burks says the technicians provide a wide variety of services, including aircraft and vehicle maintenance.

He says the budget cuts also have prompted a reduction in training flights from 200 to 300 hours a month to 40 hours a month.

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