Some of the most significant impacts are medical disruptions for those living on base, said Maria Donnelly, the co-founder of Military Family Foundation.
“All elective and non-emergent care at military facilities has been suspended. We’re also seeing a lot of prescription drug shortages, particularly at bases overseas. If someone does not already have a referral process through TRICARE, which is the military healthcare, they’re not able to get those, so it’s delaying care,” Donnelly said.
There are nearly 14,000 active-duty service members in Nevada.
Donnelly said some military members were also in the middle of relocating to new bases and are now in limbo. In addition, one in four service members experiences food insecurity and is enrolled in WIC, which also faces uncertainty without federal funding.
Donnelly said veterans now working for the federal government are highly affected, too.
“It’s a shame because the federal government has built itself as the employer of choice for military families for so long. A lot of them are also military family members,” Donnelly said. “It starts raising questions of, ‘Are we in this for the long haul? Does it make sense to leave for the private sector?’”
Across the country, more than 700,000 veterans work in various federal departments and agencies, making up nearly a quarter of that workforce, according to the Pew Research Center.
Donnelly’s message to lawmakers is not to use the military community as a political pawn during the shutdown.
“There is this kind of sacred vow between the people in the United States and our all-volunteer force, that if you sign up, you kind of give a blank check to the government of the United States — your life. You will move wherever. Military members can’t just decide, ‘You know what, I quit tomorrow.’ It comes with criminal penalties that if you sign up to serve our country, you will be paid, and you and your family will be taken care of in a way,” Donnelly said.
“There are children who would go hungry as a result of this. I just wish that we could tell congressional representatives that it is not fair to play like this with people’s lives, particularly the people who have volunteered to serve their country.”
Donnelly advises service members to contact relief societies, mutual aid associations, and ask their bank for an interest-free loan during this time.
