As the US passes the record for the longest government shutdown in history on Wednesday, civilian employees of the Defense Department — many of whom are veterans and military family members — are questioning how the agency is treating their federal service as some struggle to make ends meet amid missed paychecks.

Eight Defense Department civilians, stationed everywhere from Hawaii to Germany, told CNN morale is low and falling fast as the government shutdown drags on with no clear end in sight. Several said they and others they know are actively looking to leave federal service after years or even decades of prior commitment, while others said they feel a responsibility to stay despite the increasingly hostile environment they find themselves in.

Almost all of the civilians who spoke to CNN are veterans themselves. As of 2021, nearly half of the Pentagon’s civilian employees were veterans. That can add an additional layer of frustration to how civilians have been spoken about and treated as they work side by side with those in uniform keeping the Defense Department running.

“Me and my veteran friends are like, do they not know? When you disrespect the civilians who are working in federal service, do they not know that so many of them are actually veterans?” one Navy veteran who is a Defense Department civilian in Hawaii told CNN.

“It’s a slap in the face,” said ano