The closure of the government is just the newest blow to troops and veterans

To Three -quarters of a million Federal employees can be redeemed if the current impasse on the financing of the federal government continues. And unlike the last two shutdowns of the government, in 2018/2019 and 2013, active service staff will also miss PayChecks from 15 October if the congress does not act, but they will nevertheless be obliged to serve. Moreover, many military families depend on other government services to make ends meet, such as federal food aid. A bill is being considered with which military wages would guarantee, even during the closure, but from this letter fate was uncertain.

The closure of the government means in the short term hardships for military families and a wide stretch of other federal employees, but active services and veterans of recent wars will be hit even harder, and for a longer period, under the provisions of the so -called “Big Beautiful Bill” that was adopted earlier this year. Only a small part of the increased Pentagon expenditure in the bill – about 5% – will go to help military families. And cutbacks elsewhere in the budget mean a net loss for many of these families, because pillars of the social safety net such as food aid are lowered.

The situation for veterans is even worse. Cutbacks in food aid and health care will hit them harder because they are more dependent on these programs. Such as the non-party-related center for budget and policy priorities notedIn 2023, the last year for which full statistics are available, ‘one in four veterans lived in a household that received food aid from the supplementary food utility (SNAP) or Healthcare of Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (Chip). “And even before the major account, VA Secretary Doug Collins announced a plan to eliminate 83,000 jobs in the Veterans Administration, a movement that would slow down the processing of the benefits and the closure of the health clinics of veterans in the government would also take a toll, because veterans will be around 30% of federal employees.

At a time when the Pentagon budget has reached $ 1 trillion for the first time in the period after the Second World War, and members of the congress are told these spending as the promotion of ‘peace through strength’, military families and veterans are left behind while while more than half From the budget of the department goes to contractors such as Lockheed Martin, RTX (formerly Raytheon) and general dynamics. Although these companies supply the Systems Active Duty Troops that are needed when they go into fighting, technology does not win wars. Well -trained, well -motivated troops are needed that act on behalf of a realistic strategy to prevail. Giving a short tight to the current and former military personnel weakens the defense of America.

The rhetoric of Minister of Defense Pete Hegseeth about prioritizing “The Warrior” will not make up for the neglect of the troops and veterans when it comes to how the Pentagon issues our tax dollars. Quarreling about beards and hairstyles, and the loosening of disciplinary rules to allow actions that could be considered in the past as violations of the war laws, distracts what the primary mission of the armed forces should be – to defend the nation in the event of a serious threat to our safety. But as more and more financing goes to dubious projects such as the Golden Dome Missile Defense System, which many scientists claim will never perform as advertisedBasic supports, from combat training to supporting the families of active troops, lack sufficient financing.

The best way to support our troops is by stopping asking to wage wars in circumstances that make it almost impossible to succeed, as happened in the 20-year intervention of America in Afghanistan. Our troops need more than martial rhetoric. They need financial support, adequate training and civil leadership that only sends them at war when all other means to ward off a threat to the nation are tested.

Instead of talking about hairstyles, beards and ‘male standards’, secretary Hegseeth should insist on more support for active troops and their families, as well as veterans who have served in recent conflicts. And we should have a serious national debate about which military obligations really take care of our defense, and what relics are of strategies that were conceived decades ago, when the world was a very different place.