Perhaps 'support the troops' should include paying them

Nothing says "we support the troops" like giving them I.O.U.s instead of paychecks:

If Congress and the White House can’t reach a spending deal by the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, members of the military would be expected to work during the shutdown, but would not get paid until the issues are resolved. If Congress and the White House can’t reach a spending deal by the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, members of the military would be expected to work during the shutdown, but would not get paid until the issues are resolved.

There are some tea-party styled jackasses who sincerely want a shutdown, presuming it would save money (it wouldn't!) or teach people a lesson (about how to look like you want to cut the deficit while not actually doing that thing) or magically make an assortment of new healthcare laws go away because you've decided it's in your party's interest to pretend to be horrified by them (let's not mention the part where much of it came from conservative ideas.) Telling soldiers that they're simply not going to get paid for a while so that you can make some ineffectual "point"—now that's an issue I'd like to see those congressmen give a little speech or two on. On a military base. To those soldiers.
The irony of it is that the soldiers would be the lucky ones. Many other government workers will simply be furloughed without pay, which apparently isn't an issue to the Cruz caucus because they simply can't imagine someone not being able to go without their paycheck for a while. Pile this onto previous votes to cut food stamps and there's really no defending this Congress: this has gone beyond the realm of the ideological—or even the incompetent—and has landed firmly in the camp of being cruel for the sake of cruel.
It's true that the Republicans will likely get plastered in the event of a shutdown, presuming the press bothers to point out any of its actual effects. So far the national press isn't doing that, but local news will, as usual, cover local shutdowns with a vengeance. That's small consolation for all the people expected to simply go without paychecks while Congress attempts to get its head out of its own posterior, though.
Go on, Cruz. Go on, tea partiers. Go give your we-love-the-troops speeches to the troops, and explain to them why they're just gonna have to work without pay for a while because of your deep principles on how Obama is mean and you don't like him. That ought to be a real hoot.