CAMP LEJEUNE -- First lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden, the vice president's wife, came to North Carolina on Wednesday to remind the 99 percent of Americans who don't serve in the military that they must find ways to serve the people who do.
"Our motto is simple: Every one can do something," Obama told about 3,000 uniformed Marines and their families who gathered in the Goettge Field House at Camp Lejeune to hear about a national plan to get the nation behind its troops.
"Joining Forces" officially kicked off with a White House event Tuesday, and Obama and Biden made Camp Lejeune their first stop on a national tour to tout the effort.
The two women came toLejeune, they said, because Jacksonville already does a lot of what they want the rest of the country to do.
During her husband's presidential campaign, Obama connected with military families and became interested in their struggles, which have become a theme of her tenure as first lady.
Most of their needs fall into three categories: jobs for military spouses and for veterans leaving service; educational opportunities for military children and job training for spouses; and programs to help veterans and their families maintain physical and mental health.
Joining Forces highlights existing programs that answer those needs and helps create new ones with the help of government, corporations, nonprofit groups, churches, philanthropies and individuals.
Sears Holdings, for example, has promised that its 30,000 employees who are military personnel, veterans or spouses will be able to transfer to other jobs whenever possible if they must relocate because of their military duty. Wal-Mart has made a similar guarantee.
Siemens Corp. has said it will reserve 10 percent of the more than 3,000 open positions in its clean tech industries for veterans.
Best Buy's Geek Squad will host seminars beginning this summer at 17 military bases to educate military families on the use of technology.
The American Heart Association will give up to 100,000 female veterans and military wives guidance on reducing heart disease. The YMCA, the National Military Family Association and the Sierra Club Foundation will work together to put 7,000 military children through free summer camps this year in at least 35 states.
Support the troops
Communities across North Carolina that are home to its six major military bases show their support for service members through organized programs and informal gestures. Retail businesses and restaurants often offer discounts and special services, while apartment complexes cut their rents. Last year, a Raleigh wedding shop gave gowns to military brides.
Obama and Biden want people to embrace the military on an even more personal level, offering neighborly assistance such as running errands for friends and acquaintances in the military.
Biden, a military mother herself, told the Lejeune crowd that she knows how hard it can be to focus on life at home when a family member is serving in a dangerous place far away.
"I know how much you worry," she said. "I know how much you pray."
Referring to the popular notion that military family members also serve, Obama said it's almost like they wear a uniform, too, but it's a different kind of camouflage that makes them blend in to their civilian surroundings.
Often, she said, "People don't know you're there."
The baby shower
After leaving the field house gathering, Obama and Biden dropped in on a mass baby shower on post planned to coincide with the "Joining Forces" event. About 40 women, all expecting and all married to Lejeune Marines who are deployed, were treated to a lesson in scrapbooking by housekeeping and crafts maven Martha Stewart, who may broadcast part of the event on her television show.
Operation Shower, a nonprofit that has hosted a dozen other showers for military mothers since 2007, organized the extravaganza, which included brunch and gifts for each woman totaling well over $1,000.
Rebecca Bishop, 29, expects to deliver twin daughters in June, shortly before her husband, a gunnery sergeant, returns from Afghanistan.
This is her first pregnancy, and she said she was thrilled to receive somany gifts at the shower, which showed how the larger community supports the military when it puts it mind to it.
At the same time, she said, others could be more sensitive. Because the Navy hospital is overwhelmed, she's scheduled to give birth at a local hospital where, she says, she has been told she can have only one person with her, she can't use Skype to bring her husband virtually into the delivery room or have the birth photographed or filmed for him to watch later.
"He's missing everything," she said.
