The Republican-led government shutdown is taking its toll, and not just on civilian workers who've been furloughed.
The Wall St. Journal reported Tuesday that the families of four such soldiers recently killed in Afghanistan will not be flown out to meet their deceased loved ones as their bodies are taken off military transport planes at Dover Air Force Base on Wednesday.
They're also not getting death benefit payments, which amount to $100,000 for each soldier lost.
"If the Department was allowed to make death gratuity payments at any point during shutdown, they would've been paid with great relief," a Pentagon official reportedly said.
All four of the soldiers, each in their 20s, were killed Sunday by an improvised explosive device planted in Kandahar province.
Their deaths come more than a decade after former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declared combat operations in Afghanistan to be over.
This video is from "The Today Show," broadcast Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2013 -- Shutdown keeps families from soldiers' death benefits
Photo: California National Guard on Flickr, creative commons licensed.