Gates: Troops could face delay in full pay for April
Defense secretary in Iraq war zone tells service members that size of their next check depends on duration of a government shutdown.
Troops could miss receiving their full pay for the month of April, depending on how long a government shutdown lasts, Defense Secretary Robert Gates told soldiers on Thursday during a visit to Camp Liberty in Baghdad.
In response to a soldier who asked how the possible shutdown would affect military pay, Gates replied, "Based on some stuff I read this morning, if the government shutdown starts on the 8th and goes for a week, you'd get half a check," he said.
"If it goes from the 15th to the 30th, you wouldn't get a paycheck on the 30th, but you would be back-paid for all of it" after the shutdown ends, Gates said. Military personnel are paid on the 1st and the 15th of the month.
Harking back to his days as a young officer, Gates told the audience of mostly young soldiers: "Frankly, I remember when I was your age, I did a lot of living from paycheck to paycheck, and so I hope this thing [the shutdown] doesn't happen, because I know it'll be an inconvenience for a lot of troops."
Gates added that as a "as a historian, it always occurred to me that the smart thing for government was always to pay the guys with guns first."