Last-minute scramble over pay takes a toll on military families during the shutdown

By BEN FINLEY, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The government shutdown is exacting a heavy mental toll on the nation’s military families , leaving them not knowing from week to week whether their paychecks will arrive.

Alicia Blevins, whose husband is a Marine, said she’s going to see a therapist in large part because of the grinding uncertainty.

“I don’t feel like I have the tools to deal with this,” said Blevins, 33, who lives at Camp Lejeune, a Marine base near North Carolina’s coast. “I don’t want to dump all this on my husband. He’s got men that he’s in charge of. He’s got enough to deal with.”

Even though the Trump administration has found ways to pay the troops twice since the shutdown began on Oct. 1, the process has been fraught with anxiety for many Americans in unif