MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT) -- A Tennessee Army National Guardsman enrolled at a mid-state university says the budget impasse in Washington has a lot of his fellow student soldiers wondering whether it’s time to drop out of school.
Malcolm Stallard is a member of the Bravo student soldier support group on the campus of Middle Tennessee State University. Stallard says there’s a lot of anger in the on-campus military community over the federal budget and debt ceiling crisis.
“A lot of people are trying to figure out, do they want to continue in school and try to wait this out, or do they just want to go ahead and quit and find a job. It’s kind of threatening their families. They have kids to worry about as well, so they can’t be playing around with the government on, ‘Are they going to pay me or are they not?’”
Stallard says student soldiers rely on a monthly federal stipend to pay for food and housing while they’re in school. He says many are wondering if they should start looking for work now in case that stipend doesn’t arrive November 1.