Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden met Friday morning at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, to witness how prekindergarten courses there are going at Maxwell Elementary and Middle School.
In March 2023, Austin announced that the Defense Department would expand full-time, universal prekindergarten to all Department of Defense Education Activity schools both in the United States and abroad. The effort came as part of Austin's "Taking Care of Our People" effort, which kicked off in November 2021.
At the school, Austin and Biden observed how children as young as four years old participated in a variety of activities that were part of the prekindergarten educational program. Lessons on alphabet familiarization and block-building were included. Some students also sang a song for the secretary and first lady.
Following their visit with children at the school, Biden and Austin spoke to an audience of service members about both the prekindergarten program and the latest set of "Taking Care of Our People" efforts which were announced concurrent with their visit.
"If we want kids to succeed in school and their careers, if we want to set them on a lifelong path for learning, we need to invest in them from the very beginning," Biden said. "We're here today to celebrate something big: military kids at Maxwell Air Force Base, and at 80 military schools across the country and abroad, now have access to full-day prekindergarten."
Universal prekindergarten programs, Biden said, are a "defining issue" for the United States.
"What's happening at Maxwell is part of the blueprint for making high quality preschool available to every three- and four-year-old in America," she said.
Austin also detailed the latest "Taking Care of Our People" efforts, which are spelled out in detail in a memorandum titled "Our Enduring Duty to America's Service Members and Their Families." It is the fourth memorandum since November 2021 to detail efforts by the Defense Department to improve the quality of life for service members and their families.
"We're setting up health care flexible spending accounts to help cover costs like deductibles, co-pays, prescription glasses, or braces," Austin said. "We're investing even more in our childcare workforce, so that we can attract and retain the best professionals to care for your kids."
Military spouses often face a particular challenge finding employment because the military lifestyle means frequent moves which make it difficult to commit to a single employer or to develop a career. That inability to find work makes life more difficult for families who may depend on having a dual-income household. This concern is also addressed in the latest set of initiatives.
"For our military spouses, I'm expanding eligibility for the My Career Advancement Account program, which provides financial assistance to pursue a professional license or an associate's degree," Austin said.
Frequent permanent change of station moves can be costly for military families, and Austin said expansions of the temporary lodging expense and the temporary lodging allowance are expected to help.
"Finally, to help our people stay connected — and to move toward a Wi-Fi-connected joint force — we're rolling out access to free Wi-Fi in select barracks, starting with new pilot projects and building out."
Also announced Friday were efforts to lower the cost of procuring uniforms for enlisted service members and to improve quality of life conditions at remote and isolated installations.
These most recent efforts are part of an ongoing program Austin spearheaded early in his tenure as secretary of defense.
"When I became Secretary of Defense, I made taking care of our people one of my top priorities," he said. "My team and I started by just listening. And we asked, at all levels and across all services: What can we do better? What would make your lives easier?"
To find the best answers to those questions, Austin said, the Defense Department solicited ideas and suggestions directly from service members and their families.
"We heard an outpouring of ideas — suggestions directly from service members and their families, just like you," he said. "And over the past three-and-a-half years, my team and I have listened to you. We've rolled up our sleeves and turned your ideas into real progress."
While at Maxwell, Austin also met with several dozen airmen stationed there to talk with them about his efforts and to solicit from them their own ideas about how quality of life can be improved for service members.
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