Oct. 16 (UPI) — First lady Jill Biden called for more financial, educational and healthcare support for military families on Monday during appearance at the Patrick Space Force Base in Florida.
Biden, accompanied by Veteran Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough, toured the facility in Brevard County after attending a cancer survivorship summit at Nova Southeastern University in Davie, Fla., earlier in the day.
During a roundtable discussion at the Space Force facility, the first lady touted the goals of her Joining Forces initiative, a White House program designed to provide resources for families of U.S. Armed Services members, veterans, caregivers and survivors.
The project is “personal” for her, she said, noting that the Bidens are “a military family.”
“When he was 17, my father served as a signalman in World War II. And our son Beau deployed to Iraq for a year as a member of the Delaware Army National Guard,” she said.
Joining Forces, she told Space Force members, is designed to “make sure that your service is an opportunity of dignity and honor, of pride and accomplishment — for the entire family.”
The White House says the effort is focused on three main areas, including employment and entrepreneurship for military spouses, military child education, and the health and well-being of military families.
One of its offerings is Military OneSource, a no-cost program offering non-medical counseling, spouse employment help, relocation and deployment tools and other services to military families on a round-the-clock basis.
Another resource provided through Joining Forces is Spouse Education and Career Opportunity, which offer help and support to military families interested in starting and growing new businesses.
Biden said members of the Space Force may be especially in need of support because as the newest branch of the Armed Services, the challenges its members are facing are new.
“Now, I know many of you joined Space Force from other branches of the military,” she said. “And I want to thank you for leaping toward this new challenge.
“But I also know that being first comes with its own unique hardships — that first, there aren’t many of you; that you’re spread across the country in small numbers; and, often there’s no one to guide you because no one has ever done this before,” she said.
