[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 212 (Friday, November 3, 2023)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 75473-75474]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-24503]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 212 / Friday, November 3, 2023 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 75473]]


                Proclamation 10668 of October 31, 2023

                
National Veterans and Military Families Month, 
                2023

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                The poet John Milton once wrote, ``They also serve who 
                only stand and wait.'' During National Veterans and 
                Military Families Month, we recognize that our military 
                and veteran families answer our Nation's call to duty, 
                and we recommit to doing right by their service and 
                sacrifice.

                For me, the First Lady, and the entire Biden family: It 
                is personal. When our son Beau was deployed to Iraq, we 
                learned what it meant to pray every day for the safe 
                return of someone you love. Our grandkids learned what 
                it meant to have their dad overseas in a warzone 
                instead of at home, tucking them into bed and reading 
                them a story every night. Millions of Americans have 
                had that experience. To all the mothers and fathers, 
                sisters and brothers, sons and daughters, spouses and 
                partners, and loved ones who stand alongside our 
                veterans and service members: You are the solid steel 
                spine that bears up under every burden and the 
                courageous heart that rises to every challenge.

                Our Nation has only one truly sacred obligation--to 
                prepare those we send into harm's way and care for them 
                and their families while they are deployed and when 
                they return home. Since the beginning of my 
                Administration, fulfilling that obligation has been my 
                top priority. In June, I signed an Executive Order that 
                establishes the most comprehensive set of 
                administrative actions in our Nation's history to 
                support the economic security of military and veteran 
                spouses, caregivers, and survivors. It encourages all 
                Federal agencies to do more to retain military spouses 
                through flexible policies, improves the ability for 
                spouses to maintain their employment when moving 
                overseas, allows spouses to seek advice on overseas 
                employment issues through military legal assistance 
                offices for the first time, and improves spouses' 
                access to quality, dependable, and affordable child 
                care.

                Since the beginning of my Administration, I have signed 
                more than 30 bipartisan bills to expand the services 
                and benefits that support our veterans and their 
                families, caregivers, and survivors--including the 
                Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our 
                Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act, the 
                most significant expansion of benefits and services for 
                toxin exposed veterans and survivors in over 30 years. 
                We released a national strategy to reduce military and 
                veteran suicide by tackling some of the root causes of 
                this crisis--like addressing financial insecurity by 
                expanding job training opportunities for transitioning 
                service members and veterans and their spouses and 
                increasing funding to prevent and eliminate 
                homelessness. Further, I signed an Executive Order that 
                implemented historic, bipartisan military justice 
                reforms to transform how the military handles sexual 
                assault and domestic violence cases in order to make 
                our military safer and more just. Earlier this year, I 
                directed the Department of Defense to review pay and 
                benefits for our military members, because our Armed 
                Forces and their families deserve a 21st century 
                compensation system that reflects their service and 
                sacrifice. Additionally, the First Lady's Joining

[[Page 75474]]

                Forces initiative is providing support to military and 
                veteran families, caregivers, and survivors by 
                improving economic opportunity for military families, 
                making school transitions easier for military children, 
                and expanding resources to promote health and well-
                being for this community.

                Our fighting force is the greatest in the world--in no 
                small part because, year after year and decade after 
                decade, military and veteran families have had their 
                loved ones' backs. As a country, we owe it to these 
                families to have their backs. This year--as we 
                celebrate 50 years of an all-volunteer force--may we 
                also recognize the bravery and dedication of our 
                military and veteran families and work to repay the 
                debt of gratitude we owe each one of them.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., 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 2023 
                as National Veterans and Military Families Month. I 
                call upon the people of the United States to honor 
                veterans and military families with appropriate 
                ceremonies and activities.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                thirty-first day of October, in the year of our Lord 
                two thousand twenty-three, and of the Independence of 
                the United States of America the two hundred and forty-
                eighth.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2023-24503
Filed 11-2-23; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F4-P