Two herniated discs and back surgery did not halt Robert Knieriem’s dream of serving in the military — the government shutdown did.
“My medical waiver [for my back surgery] was just sent through, and once I get cleared for that, I receive all my benefits,” the freshman finance and marketing major said. “Then the government shutdown happened, so I haven’t gotten any of the money yet.”
Knieriem has a four-year Army ROTC scholarship to the university. His scholarship includes tuition, a stipend for books and another miscellaneous stipend. However, due to the government shutdown, Knieriem, as well as other ROTC students on the campus, has not received any of the benefits he was promised because his medical waiver has yet to be processed.
“It’s definitely [worrisome] because I’m not getting this money I thought I would be getting,” he said. “You think to yourself, ‘How long is this going to last? If this lasts another month, am I going to be fine by myself?’”
The government shutdown does not just affect those who were promised certain benefits. The ROTC is forced to operate without all of the government vehicles it uses on a daily basis, impacting every campus ROTC student’s ability to train normally.
“We can’t buy supplies, so depending on what supplies a unit needs, it is possible they can’t purchase things that help them,” said Bill Urban, Defense Department spokesman.
The university’s ROTC program uses government vehicles to transport valuable equipment, gear and other training aides. Without access to these vehicles, optional training courses such as the Ranger Challenge, a national competition for ROTC programs, have been unable to continue.
“We have events where we go out and compete against other schools. We have one of those coming up on Oct. 24th. Not having the vehicles will prevent us from doing that,” said Lt. Col. Curtis Burrell, this university’s Army ROTC director.
However, being unable to use government vehicles seems to be the least of cadets’ and professors’ concerns about the shutdown. Normally, juniors and seniors in the Army ROTC are contracted, meaning they are obligated to serve in the Army, have more responsibilities and receive a stipend for their duties. Because of the government shutdown, cadets are not receiving their pay, and Burrell has not been able to contract anyone about the issue.
“The government shutdown has affected me and some other cadets because as junior cadets, we are waiting to be contracted,” said Ryan Scott, a junior kinesiology major. “That means for us, once we are contracted cadets we start getting the military stipend and we owe the military time and service because we are working to become an officer.”
Burrell said he understood the hardships imposed upon juniors like Scott who are unable to receive their stipends.
“The big thing is money,” Burrell said. “For juniors, you’re looking at $450 a month, which helps buy a few groceries and pay the rent, so it has a pretty significant effect for some of them.”
Not only has the shutdown affected Scott financially, but it has set back his training.
“As a National Guard soldier, you train one weekend a month and two weeks out of the year. We try to fit a lot in to those two days in the weekend,” he said. “We’re missing valuable training time and drill pay that we should be getting.”
Despite these obstacles, educational classes have been able to resume normally due to the university’s commitment to its ROTC program, Burrell said.
“The university has been great. They are really working with us,” he said. “They haven’t put any late fees on anyone who has been affected by [the government shutdown].”
Cadets have still been able to receive their education despite the fact that the government has not sent their tuition money to the university. However, these students still have to deal with other financial responsibilities, such as rent, which their stipends usually cover.
“I’ve had cadets come in and say they can’t pay their rent,” he said. “If you’re that cadet who is not getting that money for your rent, [the effects of the government shutdown are] huge.”
In addition, Brian Bertges, coordinator for Veteran Student Life, said if the shutdown was to continue through late October, these stipend payments would be suspended.
The government shutdown reaches further than ROTC on the campus when it comes to the military. Many student veterans receive medical care at Veterans Affairs clinics, but because of the shutdown, these services are not functioning effectively.
“[Veteran Affairs clinics] are seeing slowdowns. Some clinics are not operating at full staff because it’s just essential staff right now, so they might be finding it difficult to get the medical care they need,” said Marsha Guenzler-Stevens, director of student affairs. “It is inevitable that our students will feel that impact.”
At this time, university officials are not worried because they don’t expect the shutdown to last much longer, Guenzler-Stevens said. However, if it does continue, they are prepared.
In 2010, the university faced a similar situation when veteran benefits, including tuition money, were not being administered in a timely fashion by the government, Guenzler-Stevens said.
“We had one instance with the post-9/11 G.I. Bill where payments were slow. There was even a period of time veterans did not receive pay,” she said. “However, we worked with the students, let them register for classes without tuition and even provided emergency loans. We made sure the students didn’t suffer.”
