The federal government shutdown has kept troops and their families under stress, wondering if and when that next paycheck is coming. And in some ways it’s particularly chaotic for the National Guard.
Some National Guard troops on full-time active duty have continued to collect paychecks during the shutdown. But most have not.
Those going without pay include the majority of guard members, who are those who serve part-time, typically one weekend a month and two weeks a year.
It also includes more than 40,000 so-called "dual status technicians" around the country in the guard and reserve who work full-time in uniform, but are considered government civilian workers.
Those technicians haven't seen a paycheck since the end of September, but most still have to work because they perform vital jobs like keeping supplies moving, maintaining aircraft, and running complex electronic systems.
"The worst issue is the effect on families," said John Hashem, a retired Army two-star general who leads the Reserve Organization of America, an advocacy group.
"It's a disservice to someone who raises their right hand to support and defend the Constitution that you're going to do it and you're going to do it for free now," Hashem said. "That's just not the contract America has made with them."
Hashem's group and others that support military families are lobbying Congress to pay all the troops and the technicians during the shutdown.
Meanwhile, military families are scrambling. Like many affected by the government shutdown, they’re visiting food pantries, holding yard sales, and a few have even started GoFundMe appeals.
"It's anything they can do to guarantee they can put food on the table," Hashem said. "Borrowing money from other family members, taking loans out, selling cars."
Hashem said he also heard of at least one case in which a family had to stop paying for health insurance.
"That's terrible," he said. "Especially if you have children and something happens."
Jenny Akin, a vice president of Blue Star Families, an advocacy and support group for military families, is hearing similar stories.
"I'm going to see if I can talk about this without choking up," Akin said as she related an anecdote from one family. "They have one car, and that car needs to be used by a person who is going to a job every day, and the spouse who's at home can't even get to the food pantry to get the food."
Stress on military families is widespread, she said. In her organization's internal polls, 73% of respondents are reporting stress or worry, up from 60% at the beginning of the shutdown.
In addition, Akin said the shutdown is affecting the affecting operational readiness and mission continuity.
Guard troops aren’t getting their standard training, some are being sent home from special courses, and they may see promotions and career paths set back by years.
"Our guard and reserve are just as deployed and often more so than our active duty forces," Akin said. "They are paramount to our national security, and we have to start thinking of them that way."
In most states, a big role for the National Guard is helping with disaster recovery and other emergency needs.
Jocelyn Mitnaul Mallette is the Secretary of Military and Veterans Affairs for North Carolina, where most of the more than 10,000 guard members aren’t getting paid.
She notes that among those not getting checks are 841 of the dual-status technicians who work full-time with the guard.
And Mallette said the shutdown is affecting more than pay.
"The helicopter rescue teams are working all the time from the National Guard to rescue hikers who are stranded," she said. "The aircraft are operational right now, but they're unable to order parts, so they're having difficulties maintaining the aircraft or repairing broken aircraft," Mallette said.
"It's getting to the point where the National Guard's ability to perform missions and execute missions at the federal level will be compromised pretty quickly," she said.
A North Carolina Guard unit is expected to deploy next year, and she said it's not able to get parts for its equipment as it prepares.
"It's making a lot of people really nervous, and there's just an intense sense of uncertainty and almost panic that's bubbling," she said.
Akin, with Blue Star Families, is eager for the shutdown to end. A self-described "glass half-full type," she said she’s hoping something good comes out of the chaos.
"Every hard time is an opportunity to improve, and I think this has given us the opportunity to see some very acute pain points that we as a nation need to fix and address, because it's critical to our national security," she said.
Meanwhile though, she just got an email from one of the people whose role in the government is to help military families in need. That person expects to be furloughed soon because of the shutdown.
This story was produced by The American Homefront Project, a public media collaboration that reports on American military life and veterans.
