My husband is a Major, and a C-5 instructor pilot, in the USAF Reserves here at Lackland AFB San Antonio (his job consists of a civilian side as well).   He separated from Air Force Active Duty in 2007 and we have been here (our family are all in Texas) since he was offered this job.  It's a great one - he's home much more often and gets the privilege of educating pilot training graduates on the path to flying the C-5.  We are also glad to be closer to family, albeit weathering the Texas heat sometimes is a toughie.

We are a young family - I am 33, Steve (my husband) is 35, and we have two children:  one is 8 and one is 2 and a half.  Rewind a few years:  we moved here four years ago from California (after he separated from active duty), where we owned a home.  The purchase price of said home greatly outweighed what it was worth when we were moving to Texas;  therefore, we tried to rent it instead of selling it.  After a year (and we lost hundreds of dollars every month), our tenants purchased a home and moved out.  We knew we couldn't keep up with renting it and attempted a short sale with Wells Fargo - long story short, it didn't work.  The bank had us going around and around in circles and we eventually foreclosed, much to our dismay.

We are a family that pays cash for most things (washers + dryers, refrigerators, etc.), but the one thing that has stung us (our credit report took a huge dive after the foreclosure) has been the ability to get financing for a car.  We were finally successful about a year ago (for a VW Jetta I now drive), but had to put more than half the vehicle's worth down.  Not to mention the rate was - I think - somewhere in the 10% range.  We paid it off within the year so that it would reflect positively on our credit.  At this point, we didn't give much of a **** about the Texas heat.

Fast forward to now.  My husband drives a 1997 Honda Accord that is fast going downhill - not only is the paint rusting everywhere, but about every week there is a new problem that creeps up with it (I know loyal Honda lovers will probably hate me for saying that).  We have kept up vigilantly with the maintenance on it, but have deemed it recently unsafe (for our own peace of mind) to carry our children around in it.  The airbags in it have never been repacked (that's about the only maintenance thing we DIDN'T keep up with - talk to my husband about that one).

What this long story boils down to:  we are in the market for a new car.  We cannot, however, given our unfortunate credit history with the foreclosure (you'll not find one other speck of yuck on either of our reports save that), afford to NOT put a large amount of cash down on a vehicle.  With the goverment looming in its shutdown status;  basically, we can't buy a car.  We need to save that money, in the event this shutdown really happens, to pay our mortgage, buy groceries, etc.

What's even more frustrating is that, if this shutdown does happen, there is no guarantee that my husband will get back pay.  So let's say it shuts down for a month.  Wow.  That's a lot of savings for a young family (who has worked hard to build a nice nest egg) that we'll never get back.  And Lordy bagordy, I know we're not the only ones.  Our situation is relatively benign in consideration of the other single income, active duty (particularly those that are enlisted and serving on the front lines) families out there.  Nevertheless, a government shutdown is good for no one.  My heart is heavy for all of us.  Let me be blunt:  I don't care if you are in Congress, the Senate, a press secretary, or the President of the United States (yes, that is you, Barack Obama).  Get your s**t together and make this happen.  NOW.

By the way, the photograph submitted above was when my now 8 year old was an infant - this was upon his father's return from Iraq where his C-5 was struck by an Al Qaeda surface-to-air missile that blew out their number 4 engine, forcing them to declare an emergency landing and return to the Baghdad airfield.  Thankfully, all were safe.  His son learned to walk in the time he was gone.