diff --git a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/commandline/CommandLineProgram.java b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/commandline/CommandLineProgram.java
index f6fbb1af0..dd4b74e42 100644
--- a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/commandline/CommandLineProgram.java
+++ b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/commandline/CommandLineProgram.java
@@ -80,6 +80,14 @@ public abstract class CommandLineProgram {
     private static String patternString = "%-5p %d{HH:mm:ss,SSS} %C{1} - %m %n";
     private static String debugPatternString = "%n[level] %p%n[date]\t\t %d{dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss,SSS} %n[class]\t\t %C %n[location]\t %l %n[line number]\t %L %n[message]\t %m %n";
 
+    /**
+     * The very first thing that any Sting application does is forces the JVM locale into US English, so that we don't have
+     * to think about number formatting issues.
+     */
+    {
+        forceJVMLocaleToUSEnglish();
+    }    
+
     /**
      * Allows a given application to return a brief description of itself.
      *
diff --git a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/CommandLineGATK.java b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/CommandLineGATK.java
index 6003112d4..5830696d1 100755
--- a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/CommandLineGATK.java
+++ b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/CommandLineGATK.java
@@ -75,14 +75,6 @@ public class CommandLineGATK extends CommandLineExecutable {
         return argCollection;
     }
 
-    /**
-     * The very first thing that the GATK does is forces the JVM locale into US English, so that we don't have
-     * to think about number formatting issues.
-     */
-    {
-        forceJVMLocaleToUSEnglish();
-    }
-
     /**
      * Required main method implementation.
      */