Iowa Army National Guard soldiers currently deployed to the Middle East face the prospect of missing paychecks while the federal government is shut down.

The Iowa National Guard will also have to furlough a significant number of civilian employees during the shutdown.

However, the shutdown will not stop the National Guard from doing its work, according to Jackie Schmillen, director of public affairs for the Iowa National Guard.

“Most importantly, this shutdown will not impede our ability to uphold our state and federal missions,” she said.

In May, about 1,800 Iowa troops, including members of the 1st Battalion, 194th Field Artillery headquartered in Fort Dodge, headed out to the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Johnson in Louisiana, to prepare for going to the Middle East. They went overseas in July.

The troops received their Wednesday paychecks. However, the prospect of getting their Oct. 15 paychecks is now in jeopardy. Congress will have to pass a budget to reopen the government or pass some other kind of legislation to resolve the problem. Schmillen said there is a bill in Congress called the Pay Our Troops Act that would ensure members of the armed services would receive pay on time throughout the shutdown.

According to Schmillen, the Iowa National Guard has about 1,000 full-time civilian federal employees. She said about two-thirds of them will be furloughed during the shutdown. All of them, she said, will receive back pay once the shutdown is over.