First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joesph Biden, are giving the White House’s new military family policy initiative an official launch during a national tour this week. They’ll be making stops at Marine Corps base Camp Lejeuine, N.C., the Warrior and Family Support Center in San Antonio, Texas, Denver and Colorado Springs, Colo. and pay a visit to National Guard members in Columbus, Ohio.
This isn’t the only big news in the military family policy world today. Ousted Gen. Stanley McChrystal has been invited back by Obama administration to lead a three member policy advisory board. The panel will be tasked with encouraging businesses, schools, nonprofits and religious organizations to help meet the needs of military families.
These signs of life from the White House are encouraging. When we first reported the policy push leaders didn’t have a clear timeline for rollout and presented a somewhat lackluster list of military family programs within federal agencies, such as the Agriculture Department. I wondered if the whole thing wasn’t just a lot of hot air.
It’s exciting to hear that not only is the White House continuing to bring publicity to the project, but that they are planning a strong community element for the project as well. As I wrote a few weeks ago, military families - particularly those in the Guard and Reserve - cannot simply rely on the government for support. It is important for the community to recognize the sacrifice of military families by doing their part to support them.
We’ll keep you updates as the family policy news unfolds!
