Government Shutdown to Affect Local Military Community

The looming federal government shutdown has many public employees in the Sachem community worried about their next paycheck. 

Active duty military members are also concerned. If a last-second deal isn't reached, military personnel and some government workers would lose part of, if not all, their pay.

The Department of Defense, in a statement, said that while military and civilian personnel would get paid for work completed before the shutdown, the DOD "will have no funds to pay military members or civilian employees" during the shutdown.

, 24, a retired U.S. Marine from Holbrook who had one of his legs amputated last month after sustaining injuries from an IED in 2006 overseas, is at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio.

“They are worried about some aspects of this government shutdown affecting where I am,” he said.

Zeier said most of the rehabilitation staff is comprised of civilian contractors who would be furloughed. Also, the amputee rehab center could close if the deadline is not met.

“If it doesn’t get signed [the center] will be closed Monday and I don’t know for how long,” he said.

's husband Vinny (Sachem Class of 1986) is a Naval officer stationed on the USS George Washington in Japan. The family is waiting for a travel reimbursement of $6,300 after coming home to the United States from Japan following the devastating tsunami and earthquake last month.

“I am so sick of standing by while a bunch of selfish self-serving egos manipulate the government for their own agenda,” she said.

Chapman said she would like to see members of Congress also pass on their paychecks.

“There are so many ways to cut spending without taking away hundreds of thousands from military pay,” said Chapman, who graduated from Sachem in 1987. “The military are not rich folks. They are young sailors with families living paycheck to paycheck, who have zero savings. They are asked to make sacrifices everyday by going to war for months and years at a time and since the Republicans and Democrats can't play nice with each other government is going to shut down.”

Paul Manzo, an assistant superintendent in the Sachem Central School District, who is a member of the U.S. Army Reserves, is appalled that service men and women might have to sustain these pressures.

"We currently have soldiers fighting a war and a distraction of this nature is the last thing they should be concerned with," he said. "Stressors related to war are difficult enough to deal with but not knowing how your family will be able to survive and have their basic necessities met is very disturbing.  A soldier’s decision to serve our country should not negatively impact their loved ones back home."

Allison Bourgal, a physical education teacher at , said her brother Dan ( Class of 2010), is stationed in Okinawa with the U.S. Marines as a private first class and will be affected like all other active duty soldiers.

“I think it's terrible that the men and women fighting for our country may suffer from it,” she said.

Do you know any friends or family in the military affected by the government shutdown? Let us know. Email Chris@Patch.com.