Oh Dear, Government Shutdown ?!

Most of you all know, there very well may be a government shutdown. If this does actually happen there will be a whole lot of pissed off people.

this picture- says it all.

For those of you who don't know what a government shutdown means,  a government shutdown is said to occur when the government no longer provides "non-essential" services. Typically, services that continue despite a shutdown include police, fire fighting, armed forces, utilities, air traffic management and corrections (Wikipedia 2011).

They are saying that the government is working around the clock to resolve the issue, however, many of us are skeptical. Even the president said himself that he is not ready to express optimism...“I’m not yet prepared to express wild optimism but I think we are further along,” he told reporters. “My hope is, is that I’ll be able to announce to the American people sometime relatively early in the day that a shutdown has been averted.” (Bloomberg News, 2011).

There really isnt that much more to say about it other than, what other people think about it..
I found an article titled "Military Families React to Government Shutdown". (http://www.kktv.com/home/headlines/119438004.html) Its pretty interesting, but its saying all the same things that we have all been saying. Read some of the comments though.. arrogance and ignorance about the issue is a reoccuring problem in most of the comments.

On a personal note: My husband is leaving for Afghanistan in less than two weeks. He is and Infantryman. He has one of the MOST dangerous jobs in the Marine Corp, but he does it for a reason. He does it for our country, for me, and for his family. I said to him,"Paul, your gonna say you arent going on patrols if they dont pay you, right?" His response was, "No, I'm better than that." That right there should show you how deserving these men are of what they work for. Not paying someone who puts their life on the line for you to live freely, is unfair, unethical, and simply CRAZY.

Most military familes that I know live off of one income, the people that Paul and I rent from, rent to all military families. Whats going to happen, the people we rent from wont be able to pay their mortgage, they will lose their properties. This will affect many more people than they think it will.

Military personnel and exempt Defense Department civilian employees are required to continue working without pay during a government shutdown, according to guidance from the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
In a memo prepared earlier this month, Defense officials noted that service members and some civilian workers, including those involved in national security and the protection of life and property, still must report for duty but will not be paid until Congress appropriates funds to reimburse them for that period of service. All other employees will be furloughed, the memo stated.
Military personnel are not subject to furlough.

This is new.
During the last government shutdown, in 1995, troops continued to receive their paychecks. According to Federal Times:

When the government was shut down in 1995, military personnel continued to report to work and were paid, but the planning guidance sent to the services and defense agencies says a shutdown this time will be different.
“All military personnel will continue in normal duty status regardless of their affiliation with exempt or non-exempt activities,” says the draft planning guidance that was prepared for the services and defense agencies. “Military personnel will serve without pay until such time as Congress makes appropriated funds available to compensate them for this period of service.”

(Big Government, 2011)


Also, I heard that if you bank with Navy Fed, the CEO of the bank wil cover all military paychecks, until some type of funding if provided.


WHAT TO DO??

Ok, so what are we supposed to do? Usually when the government wants to screw you over they will write you some type of letter to get out of it, and with it being nationwide- people, such as: credit agencies, landlords, banks- they might all be leaniant, and understanding, but there is nothing more we can really do.

We just have to wait, save our money, hope and pray that the government doesnt shut down.

I just thought this was funny :) Angry Marines- are going to be ANGRIER- if they dont get paid ;)

Most of us have the same thoughts; Congressman and the President should all be foregoing all of their salaires before any serviceman or woman is not paid.


THERE IS ONE TRUTH : AS LONG AS THERE IS A MARINE CORP... THERE WILL BE A UNITED STATES.

SO PAY THEM!!! THEY PROTECT YOUR LIFE. THEY PROTECT YOUR FREEDOM. AND THEY RISK THEIR LIVES TO MAKE THE UNITED STATES A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE.




SEMPER FI <3

Sources of Information

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_shutdown

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-08/obama-leaders-fail-to-reach-budget-deal-after-third-meeting-in-two-days.html

www.prnewswire.com

http://biggovernment.com/mikeflynn/2011/04/05/will-obama-administration-hold-military-paychecks-during-government-shutdown/

Spending Time

So most of you all know, Paul will be leaving in couple of weeks to go to Afghanistan :'( So we have been spending EVERY second of our time together. One amazing thing about being married to a Marine is that it never gets old. Usually when couples spend every second with each other, they get annoyed very easily. Its only naturally for couples to argue, but I have got to say the past few days have been absolutely AMAZING!

For those of you who dont know... Paul and I went to middle school together... We never spoke throughout high school, or part of college, until one day I got a facebook message. We started talking over facebook messaging (Septemeber 2010).. Then we started skyping, because obviously he was in Hawaii and I was in Delaware (October, 2010). Paul asked me to come visit him in Hawaii.. and I did, in Novemeber.. 2 days after seeing him for the first time physically, he PROPOSED :):):):) and of course I accepted! Then sadly the week and a half I was here, went by WAY too fast, and we decided we couldnt be apart. We got married December 28 2010, and I moved out here to be with the man of my dreams!

Now to get to my point... Our time with each other is obviously very important to us because we dont get a lot of it...

The most amazing thing about being a Marine Wife is that everytime you see your husband... You fall in LOVE over and over again.. and it never gets old.. the days and nights alone, make that one day completely perfect, and the few days that you get before he leaves again... you have no choice but to make them count.

HAHA ;) thought you guys might like that one! His cammies & my dress... uhhh ohh :) lol. JK!! we had to get changed really fast after our photo shoot, and we thought it would be funny!

But anyways.. my point being.. spend as much time as possible.. make it count.. and look forward to the homecoming :)

The past few days, we have done so much together. We saw movies, went FISHING!!, we relaxed, and heck yeah- we kick some ass on Call of Duty ;) (gotta make sure your doing things he likes to do too), we got a photoshoot, and we cooked dinner together! Oh, and today.. Our inner child came out, and we went crazy at the waterpark! I am so excited, we are going camping Monday thru Thursday... On the beach, so that means nothing but surf fishing and some quality time with my Marine before he leaves.

Ladies, Make your time count.. Cherish EVERY second. Love like crazy... Being a marine wife is a tough job.. but also the most rewarding job on earth.

SEMPER FI <3

First time :)

My name is Brittany LaManna, and my husband is Paul LaManna, we are the HAPPIEST couple on the earth :) And we are also the STRONGEST! And my new blog will help explain why ;)

So, This is my first time doing this! Not really sure what I am supposed to be doing, exactly, but the purpose of this blog is to inform you all of the things that military wives do. The hurts that come along with being a military wife, as well as the moments when you get the butterflies. Whenever one of us gets upset about a schedule change or our husbands having to leave to go to training, or a late night at work, or a deployment.. we hear "Well, thats what you signed up for when you married into the military."

Well I am here to inform you that, from the words of another sister marine wife(Tara).. "YOU CAN SAY THAT ABOUT ANY JOB, PROFESSION OR OCCUPATION." If people were upset about student loans.. someone would say .. "You knew that when you took out the student loans for school." or if someone was upset about having to deal with annoying kids all day,"Thats what you get for being a teacher."

We all control our lives and there are things that may upset us about everyday life but being upset if just a natural thing.. People get upset all the time over things, and since I am starting this blog, you will see what it is like to be a Marine Wife, through the words of myself, and my closest friends here in Hawaii as well as the supportive people back at home(Delaware).

So, I will start off by telling you that my husband, Paul (who I will speak of A LOT), was scheduled for training until March 26, and was going to be home with me for a little over a month, which was GREAT.. because we havent ever spent that much time together at once. Well I got a call around March 10 saying that he was deploying a month early.. Naturally I am going to be devistated because all I had is a month with him before he goes to the MOST DANGEROUS place in the world at the moment, and that time got cut down to two weeks.. and I recieved so many responses from people saying, "You should've known", or "thats what you get for marrying a marine", or "You knew this was coming." I can not tell you how irritating that is to a military wife.. there were only a FEW people that understood where I was coming from, which was Pauls mom (Terry) my best friend (Ann-Marie), my neighbor (Tara) and a sister wife & very GREAT friend (Cat). Cats husband is on the same schedule my husband is on, so she knew what I was going through, and we are going to stick together through ALL of this! These are the people that I am going to rely on for the next 7 months.. My Military SISTERS <3 If anyone in this world has the right to feel alone it is a military wife.. thousands of miles away from your family and closest friends, and sacrificing all of that for the man you LOVE, who is protecting our freedom. So before you judge, remember... being a MARINE WIFE is by far, the TOUGHEST job in the Corps.

This will basically be my military WIFE diary :) I would LOVE your feedback, and any comments you might have- as long as they are respectful.

<3 SEMER FI