Levittown's Military Members Hope Shutdown is Averted

The U.S. Department of Defense issued a release Thursday stating it would not have funds to pay military members or civilian employees should a government shutdown occur. That worries the Grogan family of Levittown, which has two sons in the Marines.

Lance Cpl. Kieran Grogan, 19, has almost two years in and wants to make the military his career.

“He has been trying to work up his ranking to earn more money, so this would really make him upset,” said his sister, Kerry. "Kieran is so gung-ho Marines; this would definitely bum him out."

The situation would also affect his family.

“My father has been out of work for two years, so they have been sending home money to help with some of the bills,” Kerry said.

Kieran and his younger brother, Martin, 18, are both graduates of MacArthur High School. The younger Grogan, however, recently graduated from boot camp and is waiting to become active, so the delay in pay would not affect him.

The Department of Defense noted that service members would be paid retroactively once the department receives additional funding.

While benefits for retired military members would not be interrupted, local veteran organizations voiced  concern for their active counterparts.

“It would not be right to affect anything for the servicemen,” said Ed Dombrowski, Vietnam veteran and commander of American Legion Post No. 1711. “They are providing a service and protecting our country and our way of life, and we should support them in any way we can.

“We’d be very upset if that was definite,” added Barry Scheu, Levittown resident, Vietnam veteran and senior vice commander of  VFW Post 9592. “They have families to feed and take care of; they have bills like everybody else.”

A pay reduction would not affect 2005 MacArthur grad Lou Cesario Jr. right now, as he is in the Army reserves awaiting activation. However, if it did, Cesario said he would continue as normal, knowing that he would eventually be paid back.

“That’s one thing that comes along with being a serviceman, sometimes things you don’t necessarily like happen and you have to get through them," he added. "Most people don’t join the military for the pay; the salary is not the breaking point. It is our job, and our paycheck every month is what brings home the bread and butter, but I joined because it’s an experience I’ve always wanted to be a part of.”

The Office of Personnel Management will provide additional pertinent information for federal employees as the week progresses.

“Additional information...will be posted on the department’s main website as soon as it becomes available," a press release stated.

(Nina Ruggiero contributed to this article.)