News From the Cause
First Lady Aims to Improve Military Families’ Lives (DOD NEWS)
April 26, 2011
WASHINGTON, April 25, 2011 – First Lady Michelle Obama stood tall behind a podium in the White House’s East Room, her husband close at hand, as she addressed a packed audience of high-ranking military and government officials.
Although it was a high-powered crowd, the first lady wasn’t there for the officials or for the star-studded brass. She was there to speak for military families.
As the flashes of hundreds of cameras lit the room, the first lady unveiled an unprecedented initiative intended to draw the entire nation together in support of military families.
This is about “the extraordinary military families who serve and sacrifice so much every day,” Obama said. One Marine wife, tightly gripping her husband’s hand, wiped away tears.
The event marked not only the launch of the “Joining Forces” campaign, but also the culmination of a long journey to improve military families’ lives. Over the past two years the first lady, with Dr. Jill Biden at her side, has traveled to bases -- stateside and overseas -– to meet with military spouses and to advocate for funding on their behalf.
“This is the moment that we’ve been working toward for such a very long time,” she said.
For Obama, it’s a journey that began even before her husband took the oath of office. Just over two years ago, she hit the campaign trail and met with working women to discuss the challenges of balancing work and family while “staying sane.”
During those talks, she heard from a segment of society she hadn’t heard from before, the first lady told American Forces Press Service in a recent interview.
“They were military moms and grandmothers and sisters who were handling all of the stresses that we were handling, only adding on the multiple deployments, multiple transfers, trying to finish education,” she said.
Obama heard from mothers who were trying to keep their children settled as they moved from base to base, and from spouses who were having trouble with job certifications. She recalled one military couple that was trying to adopt. Each time they moved, they had to fill out new paperwork, needlessly drawing out the process.
The first lady was taken aback by what she’d heard. Growing up in Chicago, she’d had little contact with military families. Her father had served in the Army, but that was before she was born. She had little knowledge of the challenges associated with military life, including the frequent moves and school transfers, and multiple deployments.
The stories she heard “took my breath away,” Obama said, and also sparked a passion for military family support.Click here to view more
