(This is from a military perspective, I understand the shutdown will affect others to, this is just what seems to be the most misunderstood piece of information I've heard over and over and over)
I have tried really hard to ignore the mass panic on facebook and twitter and the news about this government shutdown business that seems to be going down in a mere 7 hours.
Maybe I've inherited my mom's optimism and hope that everyone's just playing this up as way bigger of a deal than it needs to be...or maybe I'm just oblivious and it's not until we can't pay rent that I'll think, "crap...guess I should have panicked with the rest of America."
But I can't take it anymore.
Lots of people not even affected by this shutdown are going to the airwaves to rant their furiousness over this event and nobody seems to have Googled some facts or asked a single person "in the know" what's going on.
If you are one of the ones that this will drastically affect and your groceries and rent for the next month kind of hang in the balance, then by all means now's the time to panic.
But for the rest of you who don't really get what's going on but feel the need to panic anyway, here are some facts that have trickled down the line of communication from the head haunchos on the East coast to the lowly civilian wives like myself on the West coast.
First, I've trimmed the fat and only relayed the biggest issue on everyone's minds
• If there is a government shutdown at midnight on April 8th, Marines will receive midmonth pay (on April 15th) for the 8 days of April covered by the current continuing resolution (CR).
• If there is a 1 week extension of the current CR through April 15th, Marines will receive their normal midmonth pay for the first 15 days of April.
• If there is a shutdown, Marines will continue to work and will continue to earn pay for the period of the shutdown but will not receive that pay until the Congress provides appropriations.
So even though Lincoln and I have saved up enough money that this skipping a paycheck or skipping a paycheck and a half won't affect us too much and were thinking we'd just go vacation in Texas while Congress sorted this out, he will continue to work as normal.
All active duty military will continue to work as normal. All deployed military will continue to work as normal.
Second
A quote from Defense Secretary Robert Gates:
"First of all, let me say you will be paid," he said. "As a historian it always occurred to me the smart thing for government was always to pay the guys with guns first. But in all seriousness, based on some stuff I read this morning, if the government shuts down starts on the 8th and goes for a week, you'd get a half a check. If it goes from the 15th to the 30th, you wouldn't get a pay check on the 30th but you would be back paid for all of it."
Taken from a CBS article I just now Googled to double check my facts.
Now, this will really suck for those people that live check to check and really won't have money to pay rent or mortgage payments or electricity bills or buy food.
BUT for those people spouting off on the airwaves that it's an outrage that the military isn't getting paid, THEY WILL GET PAID....it'll just be later than scheduled. I find it hard to believe (even with a bunch of wackadoos running the place) that Congress will rule that the troops don't get paid for their current service. History states they'll get back pay which sucks but it's not "no pay" like so many people are raving about.
Now something that shocked me from a different article was that if a soldier dies during this shutdown their family will not receive the 100,000 to pay for funeral arrangements and burial costs. It said they will get the money...it'll just be later...which in the case of a funeral, it's not like they can put those things on hold till the wackadoos figure out what to do.
So in conclusion... if you feel the need to panic, that's fine, but please get your ducks in a row first and be considerate to those that this will affect. Your outrageous claims kind of take focus away from the true needs and problems that this shutdown will create.
Thank you, I feel better.
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