Subject: Dr. Biden Hears From Guard Troops, Iraqi Teachers
From: "Tomasini, AnnMarie" <[email-masked]>
To: "Tomasini, AnnMarie" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 6 Jul 2010 14:15:16 -0400

Dr. Biden had a great trip to Iraq this past weekend. In case you missed it, here are links to her two blog posts from Iraq: 

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/07/04/celebrating-fourth-july-with-our-troops-iraq

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/07/05/wrapping-my-visit-iraq

Also, see the following photo essay from Department of Defense: http://www.defense.gov/photoessays/PhotoEssaySS.aspx?ID=1761

Along with the accompanying article below. Hope all is well, 

-annie. 

###

Dr. Biden Hears From Guard Troops, Iraqi Teachers
By Elaine Wilson
American Forces Press Service

CAMP PROSPERITY, Iraq, July 6, 2010 – Reintegration, education and
support for single soldiers’ families were among the issues Texas Army
National Guard soldiers raised here yesterday during a roundtable
discussion with Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden.

Dr. Biden was in Iraq with her husband over the weekend to visit with
troops for the Fourth of July holiday and to meet with senior Iraqi
leaders. Dr. Biden met with several military units while there, but
showed a personal interest in speaking to Guard members.

“I have a special place in my heart for the National Guard,” she told
the group of about a dozen soldiers of the 72nd Infantry Brigade
Combat Team out of Houston who had gathered in a small café here. Her
son, Beau, she explained, is in the Delaware Army National Guard and
was deployed to Iraq last year.

An ongoing issue she’s heard about, she said, is education. National
Guard families don’t live on a base, she explained, and the schools
their children attend may not be aware that their parent is deployed
or how to identify deployment-related issues. Dr. Biden encouraged the
Guard members, who are due to return home in August, to share their
family related concerns with her, particularly regarding their
separation and homecoming.

“When our son came home for [leave], and then had to go back again,
his kids were affected. How could they not be?” she said. “I think I
understand some of what you may be going through, but it’s nice to
hear what you’re experiencing, what we can help you with, what [First
Lady] Michelle [Obama] and I should be working.”

A young mother spoke up, expressing concerns about her relationship
with her 16-month-old daughter. She’s worried, she said, about
re-establishing a bond with her, noting there are other mothers in her
unit who also had to deploy shortly after giving birth.

Dr. Biden assured her that a mother-daughter bond is unshakable. Once
they’re together, “I’m sure it’s going to be like you never left,” she
said.

Another Guard member requested more support for single soldiers
without extended families. Many soldiers may be returning home, she
said, only to be alone. Dr. Biden said her son has expressed some of
the same concerns for soldiers, and brought up the idea of a
post-deployment “buddy system” to facilitate soldiers looking out for
one another.

Another soldier noted the importance of units communicating with the
single soldiers’ extended families, whose only source of information
may be their son or daughter. Army Col. Mark Campsey, brigade
commander, encouraged these soldiers to bring their parents or another
loved one to Guard events so they can be included in information and
updates.

A mother of four said she was grateful that she was a military spouse
before becoming a soldier. Unlike many others, she said, was aware of
the available support programs. She was especially grateful to her
children’s school, she said, which e-mailed her with updates on her
children and sent letters regularly. But others, she noted, might not
have that same familiarity with military support programs.

Other concerns centered on employment, children with special needs,
and alcohol and drug abuse among returning soldiers.

Serving in the Guard is a “tough job,” Dr. Biden acknowledged, with
soldiers having to transition quickly from deployment to the civilian
workplace. A servicemember may be a soldier one day and an accountant
the next, she said as an example, forced to move rapidly “from one
world to another.”

Campsey stressed the importance of robust family support. His unit has
frequent family events through its family readiness program, he told
Dr. Biden, and prides itself on its efforts to keep families
connected.

The colonel said his unit has a Family Readiness Program “smart book”
that leaders can use as a reference for family issues ranging from
finances to car trouble, and also coordinates mission-ready exercises
for leaders, during which they run through scenarios that highlight
typical family issues or crises that occur during a deployment.

The commander said over the course of the first two-day training
session, he saw “tremendous growth” in the leaders. “It sounds like
you really have a great support network,” Dr. Biden told the soldiers.

Dr. Biden thanked the soldiers for their candid comments and
suggestions, and vowed to continue her ongoing support of
servicemembers and their families. She’s been visiting with military
families around the world, she noted.

“We want to support you and hear what you have to say, and work on the
issues that affect you and your families,” she said.

Dr. Biden encouraged the soldiers to send her an e-mail if they think
of other issues, or just to let her know that they’re home safe.

Vice President Biden often says that taking care of troops and their
families is a “sacred obligation,” she said. “The president, Michelle
[Obama] and I all are 100 percent behind that.”

Dr. Biden met yesterday with about a dozen female Iraqi teachers --
ranging from elementary- to university-level English teachers – at the
U.S. Embassy here to hear their education-related concerns.

Several of the women had been to America on an exchange program; one
called her time there life-changing. She now works for the Iraqi
Education Initiative, which aims to send 10,000 Iraqi women to the
United States and the United Kingdom to study. The first group left
two weeks ago, she said.

Iraq needs to send its future teachers outside the country to learn
and then send them back so they can train others, she said.

Another woman agreed, noting that many teachers in Iraq need
improvement. Out of a class of 45 English students, she cited as an
example, only five may have a good grasp of the English language, but
the rest will move on anyway, though lacking in teaching skills.
They’ll then go on to teach others English improperly, she said.

Other women commented that their books are outdated – some use books
from the 1950s – and that there’s a lack of online courses and
Internet availability. The focus needs to be on younger students,
another woman added.

Dr. Biden, an educator for 30 years, agreed that quality education
needs to start at the elementary-school level.

After talking with the teachers, Dr. Biden made a quick stop to visit
with Marines assigned to the Embassy. She spoke to each Marine there,
thanking them for their service.

After a whirlwind, three-day trip, the Bidens flew back to Washington
last night.

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