AFN viewers victims of Schumer shutdown
Stars & Stripes reports that troops overseas have lost some of their programming on the Armed Forces Radio and TV networks.
Classical music was playing on its radio and television stations and the network posted a message online that said AFN services were not available due to the government shutdown.
The loss of AFN programming means U.S. military personnel overseas would have to find another way to watch the NFL’s NFC and AFC football championship games. The network received some angry comments on Facebook from viewers about the timing, though some of the ire was directed at members of Congress.
“No NFL divisional championship games … perfect timing … I bet members of congress are gonna watch it,” someone wrote on AFN Europe’s Facebook page.
I hope that they’re still running those great advertisements that made AFRTS the programming giant that it is. Otherwise, how would the troops know to shut off the lights when they leave a room?
It wasn’t immediately known Saturday why AFN went off the air completely. In October 2013, the last time the federal government shut down, AFN maintained news and some radio services.
My son told me that they have satellite TV in many areas now, so, I’m not sure how the AFN shut down affects the troops overseas.
Category: Support the troops
Here are a couple of updates, via Pro Football Talk (warning – some of the comments are political in nature):
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2018/01/21/department-of-defense-deemed-afn-essential-activities/
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2018/01/21/afn-will-televise-conference-championship-games-to-troops-throughout-the-world/
Comment from your first link: “There is also the fact that if an agency has money’s still leftover from the 1st quarter they can use those monies to continue operations. EPA has already told there employees that they will be working all next week even if the government is shut down.”
Is that true? We’re willing to cut off payday for our troops, but the freaking EPA is business as usual? One of the least effective govt agencies?
At least they’re giving the troops the games. Seems like the troops are the kids stuck between their parents divorcing.
“OMG! Someone is still watching us? Don’t let them get away!”
Yeah. Delay the NFL payday a few weeks, and see how many of those folks still show up to work.
How many would suddenly make drug dealing their full time job?
Make that “…drug fealing, pimping and dogfighting…”
ROFL…had you not made that observation, I might have felt compelled to do so
In the civilian world failure to pay a contract nullifies the contract and releases the unpaid party from further obligation.
Only the government has zero obligation to fulfill any of its promises.
It’s always good to remember what our government actually is, versus what they and many of our fellow Americans pretend that it is. It’s not a benevolent protector of any of our rights, it never has been.
Why the Founding Fathers so wisely put so many constraints upon government. Constraints that potential tyrants, such as 0bama and the other (D)amn-0-crats, find so irksome and attempt to circumvent.
Seems to me if Congress can’t get their collective shit toigether to avoid a shutdown, the penalty should be the loss of a year’s pay and all special bennies like the gyms, medical coverage, transportation, etc. That oughta put some skin in the game.
David – they shouldn’t be paid period. They’re supposed to be “representatives”, not whores… The Founding Fathers would be whoopin’ ass if they were alive and saw this shit going down.
Can’t agree more Senior Chief. Far too many come into the house or senate as blue collar, middle class and come out millionaires.
Even during the ‘shutdown’ Congress is still drawing a paycheck. They have exempted themselves from having to deal with the things us peons have to deal with as usual
Good point, Senior. I’d take it even further though, not only should they and they staffers receive no pay for the duration of the shut down (or retropay after for that matter), no serving member of congress should be eligible to run for re-election following a shutdown. That should give the children the proper incentive to play nicely. I already know all of my representatives aided in this mess (didn’t vote for them in the first place), guess who isn’t getting a vote come November? I say SEND ‘EM ALL HOME. I’d rather have a kid be the piano player in a bordello than a politician, at least piano players entertain people…
I was a young Marine in a year when the governmaent “shutdown” in 76. No pay. Our married marines were hurt the most. I recall the 11th Marines chow halls being opened to family members. I also recall our 1stSgt and Gunny holding formation and explaining the situtation and telling us to gather all our change and any cash we had to buy groceries and what not for the married guys. I recall wifes being interviewed about dumpster diving etc…
No money for training
Another problem was moral. It went through the floor. It sucked for us living in the barracks but was much harder on Marines with family. How is a Marine suppose to concentrate on his job if he knows his wife and kids are going hungry?
… Going hungry, because some overpaid brats in DC can’t do their jobs without tantrums.
The ’76 shutdown (Dems again) lasted 10 days.
Going hungry isn’t the problem. Think of the hit to the Democrat public image when the wife and kids of a deployed soldier are kicked out of their house for non-payment of rent/mortgage default?
AFN back on the air. NFL games deemed essential to DoD mission. Basically it just sucks being a ping pong ball to an adjenda, be it immigration or tea party wingnutisms, doesn’t it?
There are some curious things going on in this story. The S&S piece mentions that the shutdown is because the civilian employees of AFN won’t be paid, but it doesn’t say how many people are involved.
A few hours ago, CBS was reporting that the NFL has caused the playoff games to be restored to AFN. What CBS apparently wasn’t able to determine was how the NFL pulled it off.
Something I’ve thought was strange with AFN is that it still has a policy of not allowing commercial advertising. It being evidently okay to pitch “Preventive Maintenance is Your Friend” or whatever, but not okay to flog the appeal of, say, driving a new Camaro. This seems like leaving money on the table.
And “sexual harassment is not your friend” and “wear your helmet and birth control orange vest when riding”….endless looping of that stuff as I recall
Yeah, I think most of us are relieved that they weren’t able to broadcast for a while! ^^
Let me tell you, sonny, that in my Viet of the Nam day we didn’t have no stinkin’ TV or radio. Music? Yeah, we had Bronco and his mouth harp going at it while we chimed in with our canteens and cups and Tiny adding his bass voice grunts. Pay? Heck we got script which no one but the rip-off supply guys would take. We did get letters every few weeks or months delivered by the Pony Express, but the letters were illegible after crossing the ocean. I always wondered how them horses made the swim. At least we had a few pleasures the guys before us didn’t have: one beer per week to wash down the freeze dried food. Damn that tickled the tonsils. I bet them WWII vets were envious of our long-rats chow – well maybe not the C-rats which were WWII leftovers.
I wonder what today’s GIs are going to do without the TV. We did lots of cool things without TV, but those stories are for another day and when you are a lot older sonny or when your mother isn’t around.
The Energy Rapper is not amused.
The Director of OMB explained it out the other day. Departments have “reserve funds” that they keep but have not allocated that can be moved around. Obama directed his agencies to not do that to prolong the pain as much as possible for political reasons. Trump has directed his agencies to spend the friggen money to stay open as long as possible.
This shutdown is Schumer’s and the Dems to own just like the Obamacare Disaster and the total opposition to Tax Reform. The House passed a spending bill, the Senate Dems know the Supreme Court will find Obama’s Endrun of Congress known as DACA UnConstitutional so are trying to force it into law now before SCOTUS can slap them down. This is all this is. The Dems led by Schumer care more for the more than 3 Million Illegals covered by DACA than the citizens of this country including our men and women in uniform. Fuck Schumer and Fuck The Dems.
Well stated jonp.
I found the looping classical music an enormous improvement over AFN Radio’s usual programming. I can only take so much of “on this day in military dental history.”
…There was one shutdown in the late 70s/early 80s (I know it was under Carter) where we were told at Wurtsmith AFB MI, that if it came down to it we would be paid in scrip – and this was an official briefing. (Never did find out though if the scrip part was authorized for disclosure or just somebody talking out their a$$.) I knew what that was; so did more than a few of my senior NCOs, but most of the airmen and junior NCOs hadn’t a clue. Once it was explained, here were a few brief choruses of “If we ain’t getting paid, we ain’t”…until it was firmly pointed out by our First Sergeant – a man of Hannibal Lecter-ish demeanor – that your enlistment papers say NOTHING about getting paid in the first gorram place and in the second place, try not showing up for work on a SAC base.
After a few brief huddled conversations, it was agreed that there had in fact been a terrible misunderstanding and they would be happy to keep maintaining America’s Sunday punch.
My all time fave! “Babies cry. That’s what they do. Never, ever shake your baby”
“..
So remember folks, what First Sergeant says,}
(Chorus of soldiers)
So keep off of the Grass.
Shine your boots.
Wipe your … Face
For Camp Nowhere is an Awsome place!
Aside from the fuckery of our government, I recall AFRTS (1987 – 1991 era) being a form of assisted suicide.
Seems like long commercials about OPSEC with short breaks with some stupid sitcoms and “news.”
For a little while, I was in a place where there existed a CRT TV running on a Rube Goldberg electric generator playing crappy VHS tapes.
I am a voracious reader so no loss.