Some classes at West Point are being combined or canceled and military faculty members are being forced to fill in for civilian instructors furloughed because of the government shutdown.
U.S. Military Academy officials said Thursday they furloughed 1,422 civilian employees this week, including 132 faculty members.
The academy's faculty is about 70 percent military personnel who are unaffected by the shutdown. But spokesman Lt. Col. Webster Wright says the furloughs are challenging West Point's ability to provide a top-level education to cadets.
Wright says they're combining classes when they can and temporarily suspended a few classes. Military instructors are being asked to prepare for subject matter they don't normally teach.
Wright says the situation is not sustainable long term.
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