NEW CASTLE, Del. - I promise we will take care of and support your families every time you deploy, Dr. Jill Biden said during a call to duty ceremony at the Delaware Air National Guard's 166th Airlift Wing here March 4.
"As family members, we honor and support our [Guardmembers], but we also know that we will miss them each and every day they're away from us," she said.
Biden, who is the wife of Vice President Joe Biden and a Blue Star Mother from the state of Delaware, announced Feb. 28 that she and first lady Michelle Obama will be launching a campaign this month that's designed to rally citizens, businesses and nonprofit organizations to provide support for servicemembers and their families.
"We're going to reach out to all Americans," she said. "Michelle and I are going to go on a tour around the country to create this mass-media awareness, so that the 99 percent of Americans that are not serving can now serve the one percent who are."
Biden said this initiative was created to recognize the sacrifices families make when they have a deployed Guardmember and to identify and fix some of the shortfalls that happen back home when a Guardmember is gone.
"Families, you - like your Airmen and Soldiers - are making your own personal sacrifice for this country, I want you to know that this country appreciates your courage and your strength," she said.
She mentioned her experience as a military mom when her son Beau Biden, who is a captain in the Delaware Army National Guard, returned home from a yearlong deployment to Iraq; her work during that time with the grassroots organization, Delaware Boots on the Ground, and the difference made when someone reaches out to support Guard families
"Three years ago, I sat where you families are sitting today as my son Beau deployed to Iraq," she said.
"I have some sense of what some of the parents and loved ones are feeling," she said. "I remember the distinct mixed feeling of both pride and concern.
"Where a military family in Delaware has a need, we try to meet it," she said, describing the organization's mission. "Whether it's physical labor or repairs around the house, a fun night out for the kids, or other simple ways individuals, businesses and groups can support a family through a deployment."
To offer solace during the coming months, Biden shared a prayer that was slipped into her hand by Jane Vavala, wife of Delaware's adjutant general, Army Maj. Gen. Frank Vavala, during Beau's deployment ceremony.
"Dear God, I pray to give each [Guardmember] the courage and strength to do the duty that is required of them. May they always remember our appreciation for the sacrifice they are making for us. We are thankful for the men and women who willing to risk their lives to protect our freedom. I ask you to go with each one of them and protect them wherever they go, Amen."