First lady wants you: to help military families

First lady wants you: to help military families
(AP) – 20 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — Drawing in everyone from Best Buy's Geek Squad to the Afghan war commander fired by her husband, Michelle Obama ramped up her campaign to support military families on Tuesday and prodded everybody else in the country to get in on the act.

The first lady, joined in the East Room by the president and Vice President Joe Biden and wife Jill, launched "Joining Forces," an initiative to help military families who face a long list of unique challenges, such as moving around a lot and having a parent or spouse facing wartime perils far away.

Mrs. Obama didn't dangle federal grants or incentives, rather a call to be civic-minded.

"This is a challenge to every segment of American society not to simply say thank you but to mobilize, take action and make a real commitment to supporting our military families," Mrs. Obama said.

President Barack Obama, for his part, said it was time to do more to support "the force behind the force."

"They, too, are the reason we've got the finest military in the world," he said.

Over the past year, Mrs. Obama's primary focus has been an ambitious campaign against childhood obesity, in which she urged businesses, non-profits, school and others to get involved in fighting the problem. Now Mrs. Obama, working closely with Mrs. Biden, wants to use that same model to tackle military family issue.

As a down payment, the White House released a list of companies and groups that already have signed on to the effort.

For example, Best Buy's Geek Squad will help military families use technology to connect with loved ones who are deployed, Sears and WalMart will offer transfers to employees who are military spouses who have to move, and the national PTA will expand efforts to help military children adjust to new schools.

Mrs. Obama, in an interview with The Associated Press, said she first got to know about the special challenges facing military families during the 2008 presidential campaign, as she met with military spouses while participating in roundtable discussions with women.
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First lady wants you: to help military families