While federal workers do not get paid during the furlough, they do get all back pay when it ends, and the time off is counted as administrative time, meaning it is not charged against their leave balances. In other words, a “government shutdown” is a free paid vacation.
I have been affected by this shutdown. I had an appointment at Walter Reed and arrived over an hour early because I left at the usual time, counting on usual traffic. The traffic wasn’t there. It was awesome. The government should shut down more often.
The DoD has been fully funded, so no DoD employees have been furloughed.