USA — President Proclaims November as Military Family Month

WASHINGTON — Pres­i­dent Barack Oba­ma has signed a procla­ma­tion des­ig­nat­ing this month as Mil­i­tary Fam­i­ly Month.
Here is the text of the president’s procla­ma­tion:

We owe each day of secu­ri­ty and free­dom that we enjoy to the mem­bers of our Armed Forces and their fam­i­lies. Behind our brave ser­vice men and women, there are fam­i­ly mem­bers and loved ones who share in their sac­ri­fice and pro­vide unend­ing support. 

Dur­ing Mil­i­tary Fam­i­ly Month, we cel­e­brate the excep­tion­al con­tri­bu­tions of our mil­i­tary fam­i­lies, and we reaf­firm our com­mit­ments to these self­less indi­vid­u­als who exem­pli­fy the high­est prin­ci­ples of our Nation. 

Across Amer­i­ca, mil­i­tary fam­i­lies inspire us all with their courage, strength, and deep devo­tion to our coun­try. They endure the chal­lenges of mul­ti­ple deploy­ments and moves; spend hol­i­days and life mile­stones apart; jug­gle every­day tasks while a spouse, par­ent, son, or daugh­ter is in harm’s way; and hon­or the ser­vice of their loved ones and the mem­o­ry of those lost. 

Just as we hold a sacred trust to the extra­or­di­nary Amer­i­cans will­ing to lay down their lives to pro­tect us all, we also have a nation­al com­mit­ment to sup­port and engage our mil­i­tary fam­i­lies. They are proud to serve our coun­try; yet, they face unique chal­lenges because of that service. 

My Admin­is­tra­tion has tak­en impor­tant steps to help them shoul­der their sac­ri­fice, and we are work­ing to ensure they have the resources to care for them­selves and the tools to reach their dreams. We are work­ing to improve fam­i­ly resilience, enhance the edu­ca­tion­al expe­ri­ence of mil­i­tary chil­dren, and ensure mil­i­tary spous­es have employ­ment and advance­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties, despite the relo­ca­tions and deploy­ment cycles of mil­i­tary life. Our his­toric invest­ment to build a 21st-cen­tu­ry Depart­ment of Vet­er­ans Affairs is help­ing to pro­vide our vet­er­ans with the ben­e­fits and care they have earned. 

We are also stand­ing with our ser­vice mem­bers and their fam­i­lies as they tran­si­tion back into civil­ian life, pro­vid­ing coun­sel­ing as well as job train­ing and place­ment. And, through the Post‑9/11 GI Bill, our vet­er­ans and their fam­i­lies can pur­sue the dream of high­er education. 

How­ev­er, Gov­ern­ment can only do so much. While only a frac­tion of Amer­i­cans are in mil­i­tary fam­i­lies, all of us share in the respon­si­bil­i­ty of car­ing for our mil­i­tary fam­i­lies and vet­er­ans, and all sec­tors of our soci­ety are bet­ter off when we reach out and work togeth­er to sup­port these patriots. 

By offer­ing job oppor­tu­ni­ties and work­place flex­i­bil­i­ty, busi­ness­es and com­pa­nies can ben­e­fit from the unpar­al­leled ded­i­ca­tion and skills of a ser­vice mem­ber or mil­i­tary spouse. Through coor­di­na­tion with local com­mu­ni­ty groups, indi­vid­u­als and orga­ni­za­tions can ensure our mil­i­tary fam­i­lies have the help they need and deserve when a loved one is deployed. Even the small­est actions by neigh­bors and friends send a large mes­sage of pro­found grat­i­tude to the fam­i­lies who risk every­thing to see us safe and free. 

As Amer­i­ca asks ever more of mil­i­tary fam­i­lies, they have a right to expect more of us — it is our nation­al chal­lenge and moral oblig­a­tion to uphold that promise. If we hold our­selves to the same high stan­dard of excel­lence our mil­i­tary fam­i­lies live by every day, we will real­ize the vision of an Amer­i­ca that sup­ports and engages these heroes now and for decades to come. 

Now, there­fore, I, Barack Oba­ma, Pres­i­dent of the Unit­ed States of Amer­i­ca, by virtue of the author­i­ty vest­ed in me by the Con­sti­tu­tion and the laws of the Unit­ed States, do here­by pro­claim Novem­ber 2010 as Mil­i­tary Fam­i­ly Month. I call on all Amer­i­cans to hon­or mil­i­tary fam­i­lies through pri­vate actions and pub­lic ser­vice for the tremen­dous con­tri­bu­tions they make in sup­port of our ser­vice mem­bers and our Nation. 

In wit­ness where­of, I have here­un­to set my hand this twen­ty-ninth day of Octo­ber, in the year of our Lord two thou­sand ten, and of the Inde­pen­dence of the Unit­ed States of Amer­i­ca the two hun­dred and thirty-fifth. 

Barack Obama 

Source:
U.S. Depart­ment of Defense
Office of the Assis­tant Sec­re­tary of Defense (Pub­lic Affairs) 

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