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Thousands of Wisconsin Army National Guard members who would normally head to armories and firing ranges this weekend for monthly drills have been told to stay home because of a huge budget shortfall.

The National Guard is facing a $101 million budget shortfall as the fiscal year comes to an end on Sept. 30 and states are either canceling or postponing the September drill weekends along with the paychecks earned by soldiers.

Wisconsin had to send $2.5 million to the national bureau to help make up the shortfall, prompting leaders to push back this month's drill for most units from the first weekend of September to the last weekend of the month, said a Wisconsin National Guard spokesman. The budget shortfall only affects the Army National Guard, not the Air National Guard.

"Because of that shortfall, all the states have been asked to send back some of the money to cover that shortfall. We've taken steps to postpone the drill until the end of the month to help alleviate that issue," Maj. Paul Rickert said Wednesday.

Most Wisconsin National Guard units schedule training on the first weekend of the month, which means soldiers usually know their military commitments months in advance. So postponing the drill weekend could prove to be a hardship for those with other commitments. Even more of a burden is the delay in their monthly National Guard paycheck.

"My greatest concern is the financial part of it," said 1st Lt. Brian Schwalbach, commander of Milwaukee-based Headquarters Co., 157th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade. "I remember when I was a young soldier in college, you tended to live paycheck to paycheck."

Soldiers get paid around 10 days after drill weekends; paychecks are based on their rank and years of service. A specialist with two years of service earns $284 before taxes for a drill weekend while a staff sergeant with six years of service earns $395 and a captain with six years in the guard gets $726.

For soldiers counting on their monthly drill paycheck for rent, car payments or tuition, Schwalbach said he is prepared to explain the situation to landlords, bank managers, colleges and mortgage companies just as he did last fall during the government shutdown.

"This is no fault of our soldiers," said Schwalbach. "They have scheduled their lives around the military and we need to do the same. If there's a wedding or some sort of significant event, we're not going to say to our soldiers — too bad. It's the right thing to do."

With September's drill weekend postponed until the end of the month, it's likely most soldiers will train two weekends in a row, because October's drill will be the first weekend.

While many soldiers live near the communities where their guard unit is headquartered, some travel long distances to train.

The National Guard is $101 million short for a variety of reasons, including fewer mobilizations and a higher number of training sessions than planned for soldiers during the current fiscal year, said Capt. John D. Fesler, a spokesman for the National Guard in Washington, D.C. When Guard troops are mobilized, soldiers are paid with funds from the Department of Defense rather than the National Guard. But with the war in Iraq over and the war in Afghanistan winding down, fewer National Guard units are being deployed overseas.

"Each year as the fiscal year comes to a close, we take careful and deliberate steps to ensure every dollar is well spent within the limits of our budget, and not go over budget," Fesler said. "This year, some unusual and unforeseen circumstances contributed to higher-than-normal expenditure rates across the Guard."

In addition to rescheduling or canceling the drill, the National Guard is also suspending travel and identifying end-of-the-year surplus funds, Fesler said.

Wisconsin commanders got word on Friday of the budget shortfall and postponement of this month's drill weekend. Email blasts, text messages and phone calls went out over the weekend and early this week to soldiers letting them know about the postponement.

Schwalbach was scheduled to take command this weekend of the 32nd Military Police Co. in Milwaukee. But with drill weekend postponed, the change of command ceremony is delayed.