Military Spouse Appreciation Day, 2024

Proclamation 10753 of May 9, 2024

Military Spouse Appreciation Day, 2024

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Today, we honor the nearly one million military spouses
for their service and sacrifice for our Nation. They
are resilient. They are courageous. Like our service
members, they make our country stronger.

Through long tours, frequent moves, and constant
demands, these men and women remain unwavering,
representing the very best of our American spirit. They
step up to care for their fellow military families and
friends during deployments, often singlehandedly doing
the job of two parents. They make incredible
contributions to our country and communities, even as
they shoulder the unique demands of military life. They
exude patience and selflessness during uncertainty and
unpredictability. In ways big and small, military
spouses answer the call to serve every day--acting as
both the backbone of their families and the steel spine
of our Nation.

We owe them. As a Nation, we have only one truly sacred
obligation: to prepare those we send into harm's way
and to care for them and their families while they are
deployed and when they come home. That is why, last
year, I signed an Executive Order that established the
most comprehensive set of administrative actions in our
country's history to support the economic security of
military and veteran spouses, caregivers, and
survivors. It directs all Federal agencies to do more
to retain military spouses through flexible policies,
enables spouses to seek advice on overseas employment
issues through military legal assistance offices for
the first time, and helps military spouses maintain
their careers--including by improving access to
quality, dependable, and affordable child care.

My Administration has also expanded the Military
Parental Leave Program, ensuring that service members
have the time they need with their families after a
child's birth, adoption, or placement in long-term
foster care. Through the First Lady's Joining Forces
initiative, we are working with employers to create
more flexible, transferable, and remote job
opportunities for military spouses so they can balance
the demands of military life while building
sustainable, long-term careers. We are working to
ensure that military spouses and families have access
to health and wellness resources.

The English poet John Milton once wrote: ``They also
serve who only stand and wait.'' Today and every day,
let us come together to thank our military spouses. Let
us honor their courage and commitment. Let us continue
to meet the sacred obligation we bear to them and all
those who wear the uniform. May God bless our military
spouses, and may God protect our troops.

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 May 10, 2024,
as Military Spouse Appreciation Day. I call upon the
people of the United States to honor military spouses
with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
ninth day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand
twenty-four, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the two hundred and forty-eighth.