Some Guard Troops Won’t Get Paid Until Shutdown Ends

The National Guard Bureau says most units are postponing drills during the shutdown, but some states are sticking to their training schedule, resulting in a patchwork of different policies and some confusion in the ranks.

As the government shutdown approaches its second month, pay schedules for Air Guard members continue to be uncertain. Most Guard members serving on Active-duty received their Oct. 15 paycheck along with the Active-duty force. Vice President J.D. Vance said Oct. 28 that he believes troops will be paid Oct. 31, without offering specifics.

But some Guard troops, like those whose states’ are still holding drill weekends, will have to wait until the shutdown ends to be paid. And the plan for holding monthly drills—and when they will receive drill pay—remains unclear and varied by state. Since the shutdown began, troops have expressed confusion about their states’ drill schedule on social media.

“Most National Guard units elect to reschedule drill periods during a lapse in appropriations; however some do decide to hold drills as planned,” a National Guard Bureau spokesman told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “We would imagine that most of the units would probably defer to try and wait for things to shake out.”

The Georgia, Virginia, and Washington Guard all held drills in October and plan to drill in November, spokespersons told Air & Space Forces Magazine. The Georgia Guard did postpone some drills involving weapons qualification until next year because many range officials had been furloughed, a spokesperson said.

The Arkansas Air National Guard postponed its October drill, but units “are drilling in November even if the shutdown continues,” Col. Joel Lynch, Arkansas National Guard spokesman, said.

Lynch added that “commanders have a wide latitude to grant exceptions for Soldiers or Airmen who may experience a hardship due to traveling expense or work conflicts. They would have the option to make up the required training later in the year.”

The Nevada Air guard postponed its October drill but has not yet postponed its drill for November, Nevada Guard spokesman Capt. Emerson Marcus said.

“With the lapse in appropriations and the inability to pay troops, we are continuing to evaluate the situation,” Marcus said.

It’s not unusual for Guard units to “take a wait-and-see approach because drills are often planned months ahead of time, so you basically don’t want to pull the rug out from under all those plans until you have to,” said John Goheen, spokesman for the National Guard Association of the United States.

Typically, drill paychecks go out about two weeks after the drill period, but for now, Guard troops will have to wait until the shutdown ends to receive backpay in most cases, Guard officials said.

“If they have to drill, they will get paid eventually,” the Guard Bureau spokesperson said.

The Pengaton found the money to pay troops in mid-October by using $8 billion in funds appropriated for research, development, test, and evaluation. And while most Guard members on Active status got paid, some have complained on socials media that their Oct. 15 paycheck hasn’t arrived.

“It’s hard to get a really clear picture, because we know what’s supposed to be happening, and then we hear these anomalies,” said Goheen, who added that in most cases, Guard members on Active-duty were paid on Oct. 15.

The exception, however, are the dual-status technicians—civilian federal workers and active Guard members who work alongside Active Guard Reserve personnel but will not be paid until the shutdown ends, Goheen said.

“They’re technically civilian employees, but … they’re required to wear uniforms, rank and adhere to appearance standards,” Goheen said.

It’s unclear how many of the roughly 28,000 dual-status technicians in the National Guard are deemed essential and required to work during the shutdown, Goheen said.

“The way the government looks at these personnel is they’re classified as civilian employees, but if you walk into an armory or an air base, you can’t tell the difference between who’s a dual-status technician and who’s in the AGR on active duty,” Goheen said.