Nothing Says ‘Veterans Day’ Like Military Families in a Food Line

According to reporting by military.com, which covers the daily lives of military families living on and off bases across the United States, thousands of those families are seeking food assistance due to the government shutdown, which is the longest in American history.

The shutdown reached a breakthrough on Monday night, as the Senate voted on a compromise bill to reopen the government. The measure must go now to the Republican-controlled House and faces an uncertain future there.

In the meantime, it’s Veterans Day, which is typically marked by parades and school-based tributes throughout the country, but on military bases, apparently, it is passing amid consternation and stress, as service members and their families face a month without pay.

The impact of the longest government shutdown in history, which as of Monday surpassed 40 days but potentially could reopen this week due to Senate Democrats reaching across the aisle, is hitting military families in every branch, state and pay grade.

Families that live paycheck to paycheck are asking for food, gas and diapers. National Guard and Reserve troops are struggling because canceled drills mean no pay. Nonprofit organizationss are shipping emergency groceries to keep cupboards from going empty. A previous military.com report warned that troops may soon miss paychecks if the shutdown is not resolved.

Put the absurdity of the shutdown aside — as always the elite play games, regular Americans suffer — but we must ask ourselves the perennial question: Why does the wealthiest nation on Earth have an all-volunteer military that is living on a razor’s edge, unable to live safe and healthy in affordable housing or feed their families adequately — and that’s under normal circumstances. Shut down the government, and suddenly they are the working poor, standing in food lines? Begging for diapers for the baby?

Yet we know the military spends billions and billions on weapons that take years if not a generation to work, like the F-35 fighter. The Navy has built, then decommissioned, $500 million ships within a decade because they are obsolete. We send billions of dollars to other countries to fight their wars and keep their own lights on. Worse, the forces build systems that the defense industry wanted but put troops at risk time and again, like the Osprey and the Stryker “death trap.”

Shannon Razsadin, who heads the Military Family Advisory Network, told military.com that there were a surge of assistance requests in every branch and in every state. “Military families are strong, but strength does not fill a pantry. Even when the government reopens, the ripple effects will be felt for months.”

Why is this? The Pentagon, of course, is blaming Congress for the shutdown. Yet the Pentagon knows there has been a problem for years with their service members not being able to afford the basics, living in base housing full of mold, contaminated water, or, if there is not enough housing, commuting far from the base because they cannot afford anything nearby. That’s when having a full tank of gas is not just a luxury but an absolute necessity.

These troops will be veterans one day. Whether they went to war or not, they will be thanked for their service as they should be. The government should be thanking them now by giving them a proper living wage. If we cannot, let’s start rethinking our priorities. Better to have a smaller force and fewer bells and whistles than American families standing in a line begging for food and diapers.