The government shutdown is hurting troops, their families and the hundreds of thousands of civilians who keep the nation’s defense at the ready, a group of retired military leaders said.

Acknowledging the emerging effort on Capitol Hill to break the stalemate that prompted the marathon shutdown, senior leaders from four military associations, including the Association of the U.S. Army, spoke to reporters Nov. 10 to urge Congress to get things moving.

The shutdown “directly affects the readiness of all three [Army] components as well our soldiers and Army civilians,” many of whom are veterans who now work for the Army, retired Lt. Gen. Leslie Smith, AUSA’s vice president for Leadership and Education, said at the media roundtable held at the Air and Space Forces Association’s headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.

The event took place in conjunction with a letter the associations sent to Senate and House leaders on Oct. 31, urging them to restore funding to the federal government. The letter is here.

Ending the government shutdown is important “because of the effect it has on our military,” said retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Burt Field, president and CEO of the Air and Space Forces Association. “Right now, we have hundreds of thousands of military civilians that are not getting paid,” Field said.

“It has to end, and the folks that can end it is our Congress,” Field said, adding that “we’re very heartened that it appears that a solution is coming, and hopefully the beginning of that will happen today.”

Retired Maj. Gen. Frank McGinn, president of the National Guard Association of the United States, said the strain of the lack of pay is wearing on families. He also warned that morale among the troops “is plummeting,” and leaders across the country “fear an exodus of talent.”

McGinn expressed his hope that “there’s light at the end of the tunnel” with negotiations on Capitol Hill, but he explained that the shutdown that began Oct. 1 “has been uniquely hard on the 433,000 Army and Air National Guardsmen.”

Among the soldiers and airmen who have not been paid since the end of September, he said, are the 30,000 “dual-status technicians,” a unique classification of federal civilian employees.

“These are drilling Guardsmen who also work Monday to Friday. Their contributions are critical to our day-to-day operations and generating readiness,” McGinn said. He pointed out that those soldiers and airmen make it possible for the National Guard to “provide 20% of the joint force at only 4% of the budget.”

“We need Congress to pass protections for uniformed and technician personnel should we face the shutdown down in the future. The stress and uncertainty of our people, families and employers over the last six weeks can never happen again,” McGinn said. “Our people took an oath to uphold their duty. We are calling on Congress to do the same.”

Echoing McGinn and Smith’s concerns, retired Army Reserve Maj. Gen. John Hashem, executive director of the Reserve Organization of America, said U.S. Army Reserve soldiers are “a cross-cut of American society” who have “problems making ends meet and putting food on the table.”

Members of the National Guard and Reserve, he said, are essential to national defense. They offer “a true bargain to the taxpayer, they exist in a fragile balance between civilian life and military obligation.”

When the government shuts down, Hashem said, that balance collapses. “Everything has a compounding effect,” he said.