If a Flood Hit Vermont During a Federal Shutdown, Would the National Guard Be Able to Respond?
Anyone who lives in the Green Mountain State knows how fast the weather can change to perilous conditions with little notice, federal shutdown or not.
When Vermonters think of the National Guard, they often picture the “Green Mountain Boys” responding to state emergencies—plucking families from rooftops during Tropical Storm Irene or clearing roads after a devastating ice storm. They are a familiar and reassuring presence. But a political battle in Washington, D.C., over the federal budget could paralyze that life-saving capability, creating a critical vulnerability that few Vermonters understand. A federal government shutdown isn’t just a news headline about closed parks; it’s an event that could directly compromise the state’s ability to protect its citizens in a disaster. This is how a federal problem becomes a Vermont crisis.
A Tale of Three Service Members: An Uneven Crisis
To grasp the shutdown’s impact, it’s essential to understand that not all members of the Vermont Air National Guard (VTANG) are affected equally. According to Department of Defense (DoD) guidance, a shutdown creates a rigid, three-tiered system where a person’s job status, not their importance, determines their fate.
Traditional Guard Members: For the majority of the VTANG’s part-time members, a shutdown typically means their monthly drill weekends are canceled. According to a National Guard Bureau analysis, this results in a direct loss of pay and retirement points—income many Vermont families rely on. More critically, it halts essential training, degrading skills that are vital for both state and federal missions.
Active Guard Reserve (AGR) Personnel: These are full-time military members responsible for training and administration. As uniformed personnel, they are considered “excepted” and are legally required to work throughout a shutdown. However, according to CBS News reports on past shutdowns, the appropriation that funds their salaries will have lapsed. This means they are forced to work without timely pay, creating immense financial stress for their families.
Dual-Status Military Technicians: This group represents the shutdown’s most alarming impact. These individuals are the full-time backbone of the 158th Fighter Wing in South Burlington. They are the mechanics who fix the F-35s, the logistics experts who manage supplies, and the planners who organize operations. While they are drilling Guard members, their full-time job is as federal civilian employees. DoD guidance is severe and unambiguous: civilians who are not performing “excepted” duties must be furloughed. This means the vast majority of the Guard’s full-time workforce is sent home without pay, effectively paralyzing the unit’s day-to-day functions.
To put it simply, the people who keep the planes, trucks, and equipment ready to go are legally barred from doing their jobs.
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The Unseen Threat: If a Flood Hit Vermont During a Federal Shutdown, Would the National Guard Be Able to Respond?
When Vermonters think of the National Guard, they often picture the “Green Mountain Boys” responding to state emergencies—plucking families from rooftops during Tropical Storm Irene or clearing roads after a devastating ice storm. They are a familiar and reassuring presence. But a political battle in Washington, D.C., over the federal budget could paralyze that life-saving capability, creating a critical vulnerability that few Vermonters understand. A federal government shutdown isn’t just a news headline about closed parks; it’s an event that could directly compromise the state’s ability to protect its citizens in a disaster. This is how a federal problem becomes a Vermont crisis.
A Tale of Three Service Members: An Uneven Crisis
To grasp the shutdown’s impact, it’s essential to understand that not all members of the Vermont Air National Guard (VTANG) are affected equally. According to Department of Defense (DoD) guidance, a shutdown creates a rigid, three-tiered system where a person’s job status, not their importance, determines their fate.
Traditional Guard Members: For the majority of the VTANG’s part-time members, a shutdown typically means their monthly drill weekends are canceled. According to a National Guard Bureau analysis, this results in a direct loss of pay and retirement points—income many Vermont families rely on. More critically, it halts essential training, degrading skills that are vital for both state and federal missions.
Active Guard Reserve (AGR) Personnel: These are full-time military members responsible for training and administration. As uniformed personnel, they are considered “excepted” and are legally required to work throughout a shutdown. However, according to CBS News reports on past shutdowns, the appropriation that funds their salaries will have lapsed. This means they are forced to work without timely pay, creating immense financial stress for their families.
Dual-Status Military Technicians: This group represents the shutdown’s most alarming impact. These individuals are the full-time backbone of the 158th Fighter Wing in South Burlington. They are the mechanics who fix the F-35s, the logistics experts who manage supplies, and the planners who organize operations. While they are drilling Guard members, their full-time job is as federal civilian employees. DoD guidance is severe and unambiguous: civilians who are not performing “excepted” duties must be furloughed. This means the vast majority of the Guard’s full-time workforce is sent home without pay, effectively paralyzing the unit’s day-to-day functions.
To put it simply, the people who keep the planes, trucks, and equipment ready to go are legally barred from doing their jobs.
Personnel CategoryWork Status During ShutdownPay Status During ShutdownKey Impact for VermontersTraditional GuardsmanDrills CanceledNo Drill PayLoss of supplemental family income and critical training.Dual-Status TechnicianFurloughed (Sent Home)Pay DelayedParalysis of all routine maintenance and support for the VTANG.Active Guard Reserve (AGR)Required to WorkPay DelayedMilitary families are forced to work without a paycheck.
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The Illusion of Readiness
During a shutdown, the 158th Fighter Wing’s most critical federal mission—maintaining armed F-35 jets on 24/7 alert for the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD)—will continue. This is a classic “excepted” activity, deemed essential for national security. A skeleton crew of pilots and technicians will remain on duty to ensure those specific jets are ready to launch.
However, this creates a dangerous illusion of readiness. The DoD’s own guidance directs commanders to use the “fewest number of employees” possible to perform only the excepted task. This means that while the “tip of the spear” (the alert mission) remains sharp, the shaft of the spear—the training, routine maintenance, and logistical foundation of the entire wing—is allowed to rot. An F-35’s reliability is ensured by a rigorous schedule of preventative maintenance. When that stops, a “readiness debt” begins to accumulate. When the shutdown ends, it can take months of costly overtime to catch up, leaving the force less prepared for a real-world deployment.
Vermont’s Nightmare Scenario: A Flood During a Shutdown
This brings us to the most critical question for Vermonters: What happens if the governor calls up the Guard for a state emergency, like a catastrophic flood, during a federal shutdown? The answer is alarming.
The governor absolutely has the authority to activate the Guard for State Active Duty. The problem is that the Guard members who arrive at the base would find themselves hamstrung. The full-time federal technicians who maintain the high-water rescue vehicles, operate the emergency communications equipment, and manage logistics for a state response would be at home on furlough. They are legally prohibited by the federal Antideficiency Act from performing their jobs.
This creates an operational and legal nightmare:
Paralysis at the Gate: The governor can order a military member to duty, but that person is legally barred from performing their furloughed federal civilian job. They could not enter the federally-funded maintenance facility to ready a state-owned rescue vehicle.
A Dangerous Gamble: Even if a workaround were found, the equipment’s readiness would be questionable. Because the technicians have been furloughed, a backlog of routine and preventative maintenance would already exist. State leaders would face a terrible choice: deploy equipment that hasn’t been properly maintained, risking a catastrophic failure during a rescue, or admit their response is crippled.
Financial Chaos: While the state is responsible for paying the costs of a state activation, it typically relies on reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). During a shutdown, FEMA itself would be operating with a skeleton crew, unable to process claims, leaving Vermont to bear the full cost for an indefinite period.
A political failure in Washington to pass a budget directly and immediately compromises the State of Vermont’s capacity to protect the lives and property of its own citizens.
The Path Forward for Vermonters
The men and women of the Vermont National Guard stand ready to answer the call, whether it comes from the governor or the president. The systemic failure lies not with them, but with a federal funding process that holds their readiness, their paychecks, and Vermont’s emergency response capability hostage to political gridlock.
For Vermonters, understanding this issue is the first step. The solution is not to question the Guard’s ability but to recognize how federal dysfunction creates unacceptable risks at the local level. The key takeaway is that the readiness of our citizen-soldiers and the safety of our communities are directly linked to the basic functioning of the federal government. When one fails, the other is put in jeopardy. This vulnerability is not a partisan issue; it is a structural flaw that puts all Vermonters at risk.