Gov't Shutdown = Free Vacation time for .gov employees?

[hkOrion]

So I have a friend who works out at Buckley for the Army, and who is in the CO Guard. On Friday I got a call from him asking what I was doing as the budget shenanigans hadn't been completed yet. The kicker is that even if the .gov shut down (let's say for a week or 2), he would have gotten back pay once the checks started coming again. So basically .gov shutdown = free vacation time for him.

So I guess my question is, does this apply to ALL .gov employees, or just specific positions / grades?

and my follow up to that is how the hell shutting down the .gov for 2 weeks would save any money if this applies to even half the employees?