Op-ed by First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden: 'Joining Forces' with you on Veterans Day

The following op-ed by First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden appeared this morning on the following military news websites: Military Times, Army Times, Air Force Times, Marine Corps Times, and Navy Times.

Michelle Obama, Jill Biden: 'Joining Forces' with you on Veterans Day

Over the past five years, the two of us have had the privilege of traveling across America and around the world to visit with our extraordinary troops, veterans and military families — and time and again, we have been awed by your service and sacrifice.

We’ve been overwhelmed by the courage of our wounded warriors and the devotion of the caregivers who stand by their side. We’ve been inspired by the military spouses and children who’ve endured move after move, deployment after deployment with such strength and grace. And we’ve seen how, even after transitioning to civilian life, our veterans and military families continue to serve, volunteering countless hours in your communities for all sorts of important causes.

That’s why, 2½ years ago, we decided that it was our obligation not only to tell you how much we appreciate everything you do for our country, but to show you by stepping up and giving you and your families the honor, recognition and support you’ve earned. That’s how Joining Forces was born.

The goal of this initiative was to rally all Americans to step up and serve you as well as you have served this country. We challenged individuals, organizations and businesses across the country to make real, meaningful commitments to you and your families. And from the very beginning, we have been overwhelmed by the response. Here are just a few examples:

■ Employment: It is simply unacceptable that men and women who serve this country so bravely abroad often struggle to find a good job once they return home. Our veterans are some of the most highly-skilled, hardest-working employees around. They thrive in fast-paced, high-pressure environments, and they’ve got extensive experience building teams, managing complex logistics, and dealing with cutting-edge technology.

In short, our veterans are tremendous assets for our businesses, so we challenged companies across America to hire as many veterans as possible. And since we launched Joining Forces, companies of all sizes, including major American businesses like Walmart, Starbucks, Facebook, AT&T and more have hired hundreds of thousands of veterans and military spouses.

But too often, even when good jobs were available, veterans and military spouses had trouble getting hired because of outdated, inefficient licensing and credentialing requirements.

We heard from so many veterans who had learned highly technical, specialized skills during their time in the military, but when they returned home, employers had trouble understanding how those military credentials translated into civilian qualifications. Military spouses were also having difficulty building their careers because almost every time they moved, their teaching or nursing or other professional credentials weren’t recognized by their new state, even if they’d been practicing for years.

To address these issues, we’ve been working with governors, state legislatures and the Defense Department to streamline licensing and credentialing processes and to help employers better understand military credentials. So far, 44 states have changed their laws to help veterans, and 40 states have done so on behalf of spouses.

■ Wellness: For some of our veterans, the transition from combat to civilian life brings with it some of the hardest moments they and their families will ever face. While the majority of our veterans make this transition smoothly, we know that post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injuries pose significant challenges for so many military families. But too often, these conditions are improperly diagnosed, or veterans and their families simply don’t receive adequate treatment and support.

That’s why major national associations of doctors, nurses, medical schools, physical therapists, and social workers have committed to educating their members about these issues, expanding their research on promising treatments and cures, and providing world-class care and support for all of those who are contending with the unseen wounds of war — and for their families.

■ Education: Last week, the Veterans Affairs Department announced its one-millionth GI Bill recipient, Steven Ferraro. Like Steven, so many of our veterans complete their service and head to a community college or four-year school to get the degree or credential they need to get the good jobs they deserve.

To help these heroes succeed once they arrive on campus, 250 community colleges and universities have signed on to our “8 Keys to Success” initiative and pledged to provide important services for veterans, from offering academic and career advice to collaborating with local organizations to provide more comprehensive outreach to student veterans.

We’re also working to support all those military children who are moving from school to school every few years, constantly having to find new friends and adjust to new learning environments. That’s why we launched Operation Educate the Educators to help teachers across the country better understand the challenges of being a military child and to equip them with the tools they need to address military children’s unique needs and concerns. We are thrilled that more than 100 teachers colleges have signed on to this effort.

We’re proud of how far we’ve come, but we are nowhere near finished. We’re not going to stop until every veteran and military spouse who wants a job has one; until we reach every family affected by the unseen wounds of war; until every student veteran and military child gets the education they need; and until every community and every American shows their admiration and support for you and your families in ways that you feel every single day.

That is our vow to you on this Veterans Day. Thank you again for your service to our country, and God bless.

Michelle Obama is the First Lady. Dr. Jill Biden is the wife of Vice President Joe Biden.

Weekly Address: Honoring America’s Veterans

WASHINGTON, DC— In this week’s address, President Obama commemorated Veterans’ Day Weekend by thanking the brave men and women who have worn this country’s uniform. The President said he is proud of their service and will do everything possible to ensure America always has their back and always honors their sacrifice.

The audio of the address and video of the address will be available online at www.whitehouse.gov at 6:00 a.m. ET, November 9, 2013.

Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
The White House
November 9, 2013

Hello everyone.  Veterans’ Day Weekend is a chance for all of us to say two simple words: “Thank you.”  Thank you to that greatest generation who fought island by island across the Pacific, and freed millions from fascism in Europe.  Thank you to the heroes who risked everything through the bitter cold of Korea and the stifling heat of Vietnam.  And thank you to all the heroes who have served since, most recently our 9/11 Generation of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Now that more of them are coming home, we need to serve them as well as they served us.  That requires more than a simple “thank you” – especially from those of us who’ve been elected to serve.

I’ve often said that my top priority is growing the economy, creating new jobs, and restoring middle-class security.  And a very important part of that is making sure that every veteran has every chance to share in the opportunity he or she has helped defend.  In addition to the care and benefits they’ve earned – including good mental health care to stay strong – that means a good job, a good education, and a home to call their own.

If you fight for your country overseas, you should never have to fight for a job when you come home.  I’ve made sure the federal government leads by example, and since I took office, we’ve hired about 300,000 veterans to keep serving their country.  Our new transition assistance program is helping veterans and their spouses find that new job and plan their career.  And I’m going to keep calling on Congress to do the right thing and pass the Veterans Jobs Corps.  Put our veterans to work rebuilding America.

Our troops gain unmatched skills while serving in harm’s way.  So we’re also doing everything we can to connect more businesses with highly-skilled veterans.  More help with job searches.  More tools to connect veterans to job openings.  More chances to earn licenses and credentials for civilian jobs.  And new tax credits for companies that hire veterans and wounded warriors – tax credits which Congress should make permanent. 

And America’s businesses have worked with Michelle and Jill Biden’s Joining Forces campaign to help returning heroes find jobs in the private sector.  They’ve already hired or trained 290,000 veterans and military spouses, and they’ve committed to hiring over 400,000 more.

We’re also committed to giving today’s veterans and their families the same shot at a great education this country gave my grandfather when he came home from World War II.  We’re helping more of them earn their degrees under the Post-9/11 GI Bill.  We’ve worked with thousands of schools across the country to set new standards to protect against dishonest recruiting and predatory lending practices that target our veterans.  And we’re helping hundreds of community colleges and universities do more to welcome and encourage our veterans on campus.

Thanks to these efforts, and the efforts of the private sector, we’ve made progress getting our vets back to work.  But we’ve got a lot more to do.  And as more than a million of our troops return to civilian life, we’re going to have to work even harder.  Because the skill, dedication, and courage of our troops is unmatched – and when they come home, we all benefit from their efforts to build a stronger America and a brighter future for our kids.

So to all our veterans, on behalf our entire nation, thank you for everything you’ve done and will continue to do for our country.  As your Commander-in-Chief, I’m proud of your service, and grateful for your sacrifice.  And as long as I'm your President, I will make it my mission to make sure that America has your back, not just on one day or one weekend, but 365 days a year. 

Thanks.  God bless you, and have a great weekend. 

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President Obama Signs South Dakota Disaster Declaration

The President today declared a major disaster exists in the State of South Dakota and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the area affected by a severe winter storm, snowstorm, and flooding during the period of October 3-16, 2013.

Federal funding is available for Disaster Unemployment Assistance for affected individuals in Butte, Corson, Custer, Dewey, Fall River, Haakon, Harding, Jackson, Lawrence, Meade, Pennington, Perkins, Shannon, and Ziebach Counties and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of the Cheyenne River Reservation within Dewey and Ziebach Counties and the Oglala Sioux Tribe within Jackson and Shannon Counties.

Federal funding also is available to state and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the severe winter storm, snowstorm, and flooding in Butte, Corson, Custer, Dewey, Fall River, Haakon, Harding, Jackson, Lawrence, Meade, Pennington, Perkins, Shannon, and Ziebach Counties and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of the Cheyenne River Reservation within Dewey and Ziebach Counties and the Oglala Sioux Tribe within Jackson and Shannon Counties.

In addition, federal funding is available to the state and eligible local governments on a cost-sharing basis for snow assistance for a continuous 48 hour period during or proximate to the incident period in Butte, Custer, Fall River, Lawrence, Meade, and Pennington Counties.

Finally, Federal funding is available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures for all counties and Tribes within the state.

W. Craig Fugate, Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Homeland Security, named Gary R. Stanley as the Federal Coordinating Officer for federal recovery operations in the affected area. 

FEMA said additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the state and warranted by the results of further damage assessments.

Statement by the President on the Departure of Heather Zichal

For more than five years, I have been fortunate to have Heather Zichal as a trusted advisor.  She crafted my energy and climate change agenda in the 2008 campaign, then again on my Presidential transition, and as my top energy and climate advisor at the White House, she has been a strong and steady voice for policies that reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil, protect public health and our environment, and combat the threat of global climate change. Heather has overseen some of our biggest achievements in energy and climate change, including establishing historic new fuel economy standards that save consumers money, reducing mercury pollution from power plants to keep our kids safe, supporting the growth of homegrown clean energy that creates good new jobs, and enacting my Climate Action Plan that will help us leave a safer planet for our children. Above all, Heather’s efforts have proven that strengthening America’s energy security does not have to be a choice between economic growth or good environmental stewardship – it can mean both. I am grateful for Heather’s service, and I wish her the best in her next endeavors.