Jill Biden visits with military families in whose loved ones are supporting NATO

First Lady Jill Biden stopped at Fort Campbell in Kentucky to thank military families whose loved ones have been deployed to NATO countries amid Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s invasion of Ukraine. 

‘The president and I are so proud of you, the members of the 101st Airborne Division, who are helping keep our promise to NATO,’ she told family members at a Wednesday night barbeque on the base. 

‘We are holding Putin accountable for his war through diplomacy and crippling sanctions. We are providing Ukraine with economic, humanitarian and security assistance,’ the first lady added. 

Biden talked about how big the current moment felt.  

‘There are moments when we suddenly realize that history is being written in front of us – when we can almost feel ourselves cross the line that will divide our world into “before” and “after,”‘ she said. ‘This is one of those moments.’ 

‘It’s tough to watch the news, isn’t it?’ she added. 

She encouraged the families to reach out for any help they might need.  

‘I want you to know that you don’t have to carry the weight of this alone. It’s OK to ask for help,’ she said. 

‘I also want you to know that Joining Forces – our White House initiative to support military and veteran families, caregivers, and survivors – is working every day to get you the support you have earne,’ she continued. ‘Because your commitment to this country never wavers. You deserve that same devotion.’ 

‘And I want you to know that your Commander in Chief thinks about each of you every day,’ the first lady added.  

And she pledged that she was personally working for those families. 

‘I hear one of the things you really need is quality education, education for special needs children, childcare, spouse employment … I’m really working hard on spouse employment,’ the first lady said. 

She and then First Lady Michelle Obama launched ‘Joining Forces’ – to support military families – back in 2011, and Biden resurrected the program once she became first lady.  

‘I want you to know I’m working for you, Joe’s working for you. And we cannot thank you enough,’ she added.  

Biden talked to the families about how quickly the Wednesday night event came together – as it was added to her schedule after already planning to do a western swing to Arizona and Nevada. 

It was the final stop on her three-day trip.  

‘I knew that the president was sending troops into Poland and other places – and I said, “Gosh, how are the families doing?”‘ she said.          

Biden then worked the room, taking picture after picture, and talking to the families.  

‘So I’m coming around and you can yell at me or say kind words, it’s up to you,’ she told the crowd before stepping off the podium.  

A food line was set up offering garden salad, ‘cold’ slaw, green beans, maggie’s mac-n’cheese, slider rolls , cornbread, pulled pork and pulled chicken. 

Another table was set up just for barbeque sauces. 

Large signage was on display showing the division’s ‘screaming eagle.’ There was also an enormous American flag. 

Biden talked about how she, too, was a military mom, as her late son Beau had served in the Army National Guard and was deployed to Iraq. 

She said she wore ‘Army green’ to fit in with the crowd. 

‘I changed on the plane, so I could fit in with everybody’s fatigues,’ she said.

Earlier, Biden had toured a community college in Reno, Nevada, to learn about how funds from the American Rescue Plan were helping nursing, radiology and emergency medical technician students there. 

‘I love being at a community college and you know that’s true because it’s my spring break and I’m at a community college!’ she said. 

The first lady is highlighting issues – such as job training programs and cancer care – that she and President Joe Biden believe should be able to receive bipartisan support. 

Throughout the first lady’s three-day trip she called attention to the crisis in Ukraine. 

On Tuesday, the first lady visited the Tohono O’odham Nation in Tucson, Arizona to talk about the resurrected ‘cancer moonshot’ and take in some tribal customs.  

‘You know, it’s really personal for me and Joe. As you know, we lost our son to cancer. And so one of the things Joe and I decided to do was find purpose in that loss. And it’s something that I think our son would want us to do,’ the first lady said during a briefing the tribe’s Xavier Health Center. ‘So Joe is totally committed to this.’ 

President Joe Biden first announced the Cancer Moonshot when he was serving as vice president and after the 2015 death of son Beau to brain cancer. 

The Bidens relaunched the initiative last month, with the president highlighting it in his State of the Union speech – speaking about the use of burn pits by the military in Afghanistan and Iraq, which he suggested could have led to Beau Biden’s cancer case. 

That section of the speech received extra attention because the president was interrupted by a screaming Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert who was booed by Democrats and yelled at by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham for her outburst.

On Tuesday, Dr. Biden was greeted enthusiastically by members of the Tohono O’odham Nation.

Her motorcade was preceded by cultural ‘runners’ who cleansed the road spiritually before her arrival. Then the vice chairman of the San Xavier tribal district Jerry Carlyle offered a prayer and a blessing – fanning the first lady with burning sage and feathers.  

Dr. Biden then walked to the back of the center where she was given a briefing on the current state of cancer, including some problems such as the inability for tribe members to receive colonoscopies on tribal land. 

‘I hope this visit brings people hope,’ the first lady said. 

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra talked about how important it was that Biden chose to visit a Native American community.   

‘We thank Dr. Biden for making the trip here because she could have gone anywhere,’ he told those gathered, including Democratic Rep. Raúl Grijalva.  

She then made a second stop to the San Xavier del Bac Mission, a beautifully ornate Roman Catholic church set amid a desert backdrop. 

While receiving a tour of the mission, the first lady asked Father Bill Minkel to lend some expertise. 

‘Father, may we ask you to say a prayer for the people of Ukraine,’ Dr. Biden said. 

Minkel obliged. 

She was then led outside to a courtyard to be treated to some traditional tribal dance.     

The song and dance performance honored the Tohono’s proud tradition of basket-weaving.    

Biden marked International Women’s Day with her final stop Tuesday, a backyard gathering hosted by Tucson’s first Latina mayor, Regina Romero.  

‘So happy women’s day!’ Biden told the small crowd, who were situated alongside an outdoor swimming pool. Romero said her guests were some of the community’s leaders. 

 ‘Women have never been silent. But women have in silenced, with violence, with discrimination, and with isolation, and it’s work and care that is never done,’ Biden said. 

She called attention to the ‘charlas’ she had previosly held for Latinas as first lady.  

‘I’ve been told that in the past their voices weren’t heard. And not because they haven’t spoken up!’ Biden said.

‘Latinas have shaped our nation since its very beginning, but their contributions have not always been celebrated as they should be. It’s time that our country do more to listen, to lift up the voices, your voices, that have so much to say,’ the first lady continued. 

‘There can be no American history without American history, and there can be no American history without women’s stories,’ Biden added.

At the top of her remarks, she again called attention to the crisis in Ukraine.  

‘I’m thinking about the women in Ukraine fighting to keep their country safe, and those holding their children, you know, holding them close as they flee to safety,’ Biden said. 

‘And I’m thinking of the brave women of Russia who have risked their safety to speak out against the invasion,’ she added. 

She made a similar point in a tweet she sent out Tuesday morning, celebrating International Women’s Day. 

On her first day in Arizona, the first lady had criticized Russian leader Vladimir Putin – and making a swipe at former President Donald Trump as well. 

She toured Intel’s Ocotillo campus and then attended a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in Chandler, Arizona, speaking up about how her husband is the right person for the job right now. 

‘It felt like Americans across the country were holding their breath in the aftermath of four years of chaos,’ Biden said at Intel, as she recalled inauguration day last year. 

Looking at the current crisis in Ukraine, she pointed out how President Joe Biden ‘is the right person for this moment in history.’  

‘I want you to know that he is working tirelessly to bring people together, to bring the NATO countries together, so that they can stand up against Putin,’ she said. ‘And one of the reasons you probably all voted for him was his strength, his character – he’s unwavering. And look at his years of experience. He was in his 30s when he went to then the Soviet Union,’ she noted at the fundraiser, being held on tribal lands of the Gila River Indian Community. 

The first lady talked about the fierceness of the Ukrainian public – from the fighters to the mothers who are taking their children to safety. 

‘I mean, don’t you admire them? How hard they fight,’ she uttered. 

‘I think the whole world, their hearts are going out to the Ukrainian people and we have to hold them accountable for this horrible, horrible war that he’s really trying to drag the rest of the world into,’ she said of Putin.   

On Monday her first stop was at Intel to highlight job training programs such as a new Semiconductor Manufacturing Bootcamp taking place at schools in the Maricopa County Community College District. 

It’s funded, in part, by the American Rescue Plan. 

‘Somebody can actually take vacation time to get this training and change their lives,’ Mesa Community College Associate Dean Leah Palmer told the first lady, pointing to the way the program is scheduled. ‘I think the priority for Iintel is to get more women technicians,’ Palmer also said.  

“I heard!” Dr. Biden exclaimed. 

The first lady spoke to two workers virtually about how they make ‘wafers,’ which include thousands of microchips. 

Biden picked up one of the wafers at the scene and modeled it for the press.   

Hearing from Intel’s Keyvan Esfarjani that salaries for this kind of work range from $60,000 to upwards of $120,000 to $150,000, the first lady remarked, ‘Heck, I think I should just quit my job.’ 

Later, when delivering remarks to a small audience at Intel, the first lady revealed that this was actually spring break for her other job, teaching English at Northern Virginia Community College. 

‘So this is what teachers do on their spring break,’ Biden said. 

She talked about how one of her community college students asked what she was doing ‘during the vacation.’

‘Oh I’m going to be working on my other job,’ she said she told the student, who she said took a minute to realize that she meant her duties as first lady.   

Before she gave her speech, she asked the crowd members to honor a moment of silence for the people of Ukraine. 

‘The president and I, our hearts are with the people of Ukraine and I think all Americans feel that as well,’ she said.  

She expanded on those comments when visiting the Gila River Indian Community, where she headlined a fundraiser at a modernist red clay colored facility. 

At both stops she touted the American Rescue Plan and the bipartisan infrastructure bill – the two large pieces of legislation her husband was able to muscle through Congress in his first year. 

She also gave a nod to the Build Back Better bill, which died in December in the U.S. Senate, promising those at Intel, ‘We’re going to make sure you can afford c†hild care,’ which was one of the bill’s major provisions. 

At the DNC fundraiser, she also gave a pep talk to Democrats, who believe control of Congress will likely be lost in the November midterm elections.  

‘They’re trying to paint this gloomy picture, but that’s not who we are,’ she said, rallying the crowd. ‘So we are going to win the midterm elections. But we can only do it with your support and your help. And we appreciate that you are standing behind us.’ 

The first lady has made a point to visit tribal lands during her tenure. And her husband made history when naming New Mexico Rep. Deb Haaland to serve as Secretary of the Interior, the first Native American to hold a Cabinet position.

The Gila fundraiser began with a moment of prayer from the tribal historic preservation officer, who held up large brown and white feathers and spoke the words in his Native tongue.  

‘I want to thank you for that beautiful prayer. I didn’t know what it said,’ Biden said to laughs. ‘But it was a beautiful prayer.’

Instead of using a telepromper, like she did at Intel, Biden walked in front of the podium and said, ‘I want to speak to you as friends.’   

The Intel stop comes after the first lady seated Intel CEO Patrick Gelsinger in her box at Tuesday night’s State of the Union. 

Gelsinger had previously visited the White House to announce a new Columbus, Ohio semiconductor plant that will create over 7,000 construction jobs and another 3,000 jobs running the high-tech facility. 

During the State of the Union, President Biden said Gelsinger was ready to increase Intel’s U.S. investment from $20 billion to $100 billion.   

‘That would be one of the biggest investments in manufacturing in American history,’ the president touted.   

She’s traveling with Angela Hanks, the assistant secretary of the Employment & Training Administration at the U.S. Department of Labor.   

Biden’s trip comes after a whirlwind weekend of travel – as she attended memorial services in Boston and San Francisco Friday, participated in a San Francisco fundraiser Saturday morning, and then flew to Wilmington, Delaware to join her husband for the remainder of the weekend. 

The Bidens arrived back at the White House Sunday night.  

Source: dailymail