Government shutdown will have lasting effects on National Guard, advocates say

WASHINGTON -- As the government shutdown stretches on, military advocates are warning of long-lasting effects to National Guard troops and their readiness, while the military services are grappling with an inability to fully discharge active duty service members. “The shutdown has been uniquely hard on the 433,000 Army and Air National Guardsmen,” Francis McGinn, president of the National Guard Association, told reporters Monday. The Trump administration has made a public effort of blunting the impact on active duty service members by moving money around to ensure they have received two paychecks since the shutdown began on Oct. 1. But McGinn said more than 30,000 technicians — full-time civilian government employees who also serve in uniform — have not been paid since the end of September