Signs of the ongoing US government shutdown causing difficulties or uncertainties for US soldiers appeared, and then were swiftly removed after drawing attention, on the US Army Garrison Bavaria website this week. 

The US Army Garrison Bavaria is the army's largest group outside the US with around 36,000 troops stationed across four facilities in Germany.

"The shutdown will impact services provided by the Garrison at installations across Rose Barracks, Tower Barracks, Hohenfels and Garmisch," it said on a web page to provide guidance to members of how to deal with the government shutdown.

"During this time our US Army Garrison Bavaria team will continue to deliver life, health, and safety services for those working and living in our community."

The web page also contained a "running list of German support organizations for your kit bags" that included charities like Foodsharing e.V. and Essen für Alle (Food for All), as well as the app Too Good To Go.

At the top of the list was Tafel Deutschland, which it described as "the umbrella organization distributes food to people in poverty through its more than 970 local food banks."

On Wednesday, the garrison removed references to these German food banks and other free or discounted food provision services from the web page in question. But some of the listings remained on a separate document mentioning various services for those affected by the shutdown.

These shutdowns have become very common in the US in recent years, regardless of who's in charge, but typically they're also resolved fairly quickly. As of Tuesday, the current shutdown entered its 36th day and became the longest on record. 

Soldiers are among the federal government employees whose pay should be frozen as a result.

The Trump administration found funds to cover October 15 and November 1 paychecks for servicemen and women, but officials including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have warned that the November 15 payments are unlikely to go through unless the impasse is resolved.

It's not uncommon for soldiers to be fairly young, on comparatively low incomes, and living from paycheck to paycheck. There are also ancillary staff and other federal employees at facilities like US Army Garrison Bavaria who do still face non-payment or furlough status in the shutdown.

The German government said in October that it would take over the payment of some 11,000 local employees at US military facilities as a show of good faith, anticipating repayment when the shutdown was resolved.

Edited by: Zac Crellin

https://www.dw.com/en/us-troops-in-germany-told-to-seek-food-banks-amid-shutdown/a-74633962

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