President Joe Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden traveled to Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Hampton, Virginia, on Friday, to thank U.S. troops and their families for their service to the country.
The Bidens have a long, personal connection to the military. Dr. Biden’s father, Donald Jacobs, served in the Navy during World War II; President Joe Biden’s son, Beau Biden, who Jill also raised, served in both the United States Army and the Delaware Army National Guard before his death from brain cancer in 2015.
“Our military is a community bound together by love,” Dr. Biden said to those gathered Friday. “Love for our country, love for the men and women who serve beside you, or the service members in your life. And love for the communities that you all have built together.”
“It’s time that our nation matches that devotion,” the first lady added, touching on the Joining Forces initiative that she and then-first lady Michelle Obama created nearly a decade ago.
The initiative, Dr. Biden said, remains “one of [her] top priorities today,” and the first lady has continued to push for new projects in her first few months in the White House.
Education, employment, and are the three main pillars of the renewed program, which is meant not only to support veterans or those currently serving in the military, but their family members and communities as well.
After beginning with an emotional remembrance of his late son Beau, a veteran, Biden acknowledged the unheralded sacrifices made by the service members and their families.
“You are the very best of what America has to offer,” Biden said.
Biden also underscored his recent decision to pull troops out of Afghanistan later this year, expressing gratitude to service members who took multiple tours of duty in America’s longest war.
He also said the country must “never ever forget the terrible cost that we paid as a nation” during the 20-year conflict.
“Many of you likely have lost friends or colleagues in Afghanistan and Iraq,” Biden said. “I know this is personal to you, especially as we head into Memorial Day weekend. We as a nation will always remember and pay tribute to those we lost.”
The president concluded where Dr. Biden began: By thanking the troops and their families for their service.
“Thank you for spending this time with me today. And thank you for your commitment to our country,” the president said. “You are the spine of America.”
Earlier in the day, the president and first lady visited a rock climbing gym in northern Virginia alongside Gov. Ralph Northam, who recently lifted all COVID-19 distancing and capacity restrictions at private businesses.
Biden sought to use the stop on Friday at Sportrock Climbing Centers — an 18,000-square-foot space of climbing and bouldering walls, a gym, and yoga studios — to celebrate progress made as the country looks to turn the corner on the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 593,000 Americans and 3.5 million people worldwide.
“All over the country we’ve gone from pain and stagnation of a long dark winter to an economy on the move,” Biden said. He added, “Americans of every party, race, creed have come together and rolled up their sleeves — literally — and done their part.”
