What were the most significant consequences of past government shutdowns on military operations, and how can we mitigate them?

Personally - I've always lived by the motto, "Rainy days will happen, so prepare for them to be floods". After 30+ years of doing the "pay me now, pay me later" approach, I didn't have any issue weathering the shut-down storm, however I know that I'm in the minority and many of my Soldiers were the 'paycheck-to-paycheck' types.

For those that were facing financial difficulty, we handled assistance on a case by case basis (AER, helping with bridge loans, etc). Only a few of the shutdowns actually affected when they were paid, so it wasn't a real issue for the majority of the shutdowns.

I know that "save for the future" doesn't help now (and didn't help those Soldiers then), but it did serve as a "reality slapping you in the face" example of why they have to have a financial buffer - because there WILL be rainy days ahead, and some of them WILL become floods.

Professionally - The majority of the impacts were on the acquisition side. There were extension options on contracts that weren't able to be executed so a work stoppage occured from the supported contractor. Most logistical contracts supporting operations and the intelligence systems were either fully funded already or multi-year, so they weren't affected either.

In almost all cases, operations weren't affected to any large degree - Intelligence collection still occurred, tactical missions were still executed, and not a single bureaucratic staff meeting was dropped (the green/blue suiter might show up instead of the civilian, but they still occurred).

There was one notable case where a LFX was canceled because it depended principly upon a contractor and there wasn't money appropriated yet for the next FY, but that's the only one that sticks out.

We bought plenty of shelf stable foods and broke out the cookbooks. We notified anyone we had a loan with that we would pay as soon as we got our pay. We do have an emergency fund and we tapped it. As soon as our pay started back we refilled the fund.

This applies to everyone civilian or government employee. Always have a backup or exit plan. When you're young that is the time to set up those contingencies (otherwise one's options become Walmart Greeter).

Build a cashflow reserve fund that will see one through looking for a new job, or an extended shutdown. There is no official guideline. So I'd say 3-4 months.

As we get older in life the paths available to us become narrower. So start saving that nest egg, or start laying the ground work for a secondary career.

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From a technical/execution standpoint for investing, when one is young it might seem insurmountable to save both for retirement and for an emergency fund. However, a way to achieve both purposes would be to have a portion of one's "retirement savings" not locked up in a tax sheltered retirement plan. Then it could be used for said emergency funds. It's a little more risky, but only in the event it actually needs to be used during a down market, but then to minimize that one could just diversify that portion of their overall retirement plan to be the more liquid asset class to begin with.

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There are many here that are thinking, oh well, here we go again, and they have more than enough savings to just wait it out, and then finally get a big paycheck to make them whole again.

The world is full of uncertainties, and we are fortunate enough to not have been a world power one day, and then the next no longer be a country at all. So we never know.

A bureaucratic shutdown of the world's leading economy is low on the list of world disasters.

It's all relative

1) Government shutdown - have to have reserve cash flow to last the political infighting
2) Loss of employment by way of company collapse or fired.
2a) How easy it is to get a new job? Loss of job through no fault in a high demand economy for your high demand skill or fired for incompetence or criminal actions in a very public and noticeable manner no one will be eager to hire you?
3) Entire collapse of your region's or country's economy and currency.
4) Entire world collapse globalization of world supply chain of goods and services

On the one end simply having a reserve of US dollars on hand will solve all problems.

On the other end no amount of any currency from any country would be worth anything (least of all Bit Coin), and it's a world of barter and self preservation of what one actually owns physically and their ability to protect it with force.