VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN HOLDS MEETING RELATED TO SYRIA



Credit:  The White House

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Biden, in Munich, Holds Syria-related Meetings
From a White House News Release

WASHINGTON, Feb. 2, 2013 - Vice President Joe Biden, attending the Munich Security conference, today met with United Nations and Arab League Joint Special Representative Lakhdar Brahimi on the conference's margins.

Biden thanked Brahimi for his steadfast work to resolve the ongoing crisis in Syria and pledged that the United States would continue to support his efforts, officials said. The vice president and Brahimi discussed the dire humanitarian situation inside Syria and the regional implications of the crisis, officials said.

Biden also met separately on the margins of the conference with Syrian Opposition Coalition President Moaz al-Khatib. The vice president praised al-Khatib's personal courage and leadership of the coalition, the legitimate representative of the Syrian people, officials said.

Biden urged al-Khatib to continue his efforts to maintain unity among the coalition's leadership, officials said, and to isolate extremist elements within the broader opposition. The vice president also encouraged the coalition president to reach out to, and be inclusive of, a broad range of communities inside Syria, including Alawites, Christians and Kurds.

Officials said during the meeting, Biden reaffirmed the U.S. call for an end to the Assad regime and a transition that leads to a peaceful, inclusive and democratic Syria, where the rights of all Syrians are protected. The vice president also commended al-Khatib's recent statements, including in Munich, expressing openness, under certain circumstances, to the possibility of negotiations to bring the Syrian people the leadership they deserve, officials said.

VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN SALUTES MILITARY FAMILIES AT H.S. GRADUATION

Photo Credit:  U.S. Department of Defense.
FROM:  AMERICAN FORCES PRESS SERVICE
Biden Salutes Military Families at High School Graduation
By Lisa Daniel
WASHINGTON, June 15, 2012 - Vice President Joe Biden yesterday paid tribute to military families at a high school graduation ceremony in Virginia Beach, Va., where many students and staff are connected to the services.

At least 37 graduates of Tallwood High School's 2012 graduating class plan to enlist, Biden said as he gave the commencement address.

"It's great to be in a town that has such respect for our military and such great tradition, and such a wonderful group of graduates," Biden said. He asked the graduates who have military family members to raise their hands and be recognized, then asked those in the audience to stand if they served in the military and served overseas. "We owe you," he said as they stood, "we owe you."

The vice president noted that more than 2.8 million Americans have served in the military since 9/11. More than half "have been in and out of Afghanistan and Iraq, many of them multiple times," he said. "Your parents and siblings put their lives on the line for this country. And they were asked to do so much more than just fight."

"You're inheriting an incredible tradition, because they were asked to take on responsibilities beyond their base or battlefield," he continued. "Young men and women that I have witnessed more than two dozen times, steeped in military doctrine, have had to master the intricacies of tribal politics, deal with issues ranging from lack of electricity to unemployment, to currency exchange to taxation."

Biden saluted the "remarkable, remarkable group of military men and women we have today -- the finest generation of warriors in the history of not only the United States, but the history of the world. So thank you all who have served. "

Biden also thanked the families of those who deployed for their service. He quoted the 17th century British poet, John Milton, who wrote, "They also serve who only stand and wait," and noted his son Beau Biden's year-long deployment to Iraq. "I watched the impact on my grandchildren -- the games missed, the birthdays missed, the Christmases missed, the empty seat at Thanksgiving dinner," he said.

"So from the bottom of my heart, on behalf of a grateful nation, I thank all of you who are the brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, spouses of those who have put themselves in harm's way in the last decade and beyond," the vice president said. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

Biden told the graduates that the school, which houses a Global Studies and World Languages Academy, prepared them for more than "just mastering their studies." One thing the students learned, he said, "is that in order for this nation to lead the world and you to be leaders in the world, you have to understand the world. You have to participate in the world."

Biden said he was impressed that 76 graduates took part in the academy, and learned to speak at least one foreign language. "You've had a chance to put those language skills to the test by video-conferencing with others halfway around the world," he said. "And I guarantee you most of you will have a chance to put it to the test on the foreign soil of the language you've mastered. We will need you there."

The graduates studied global governments and cultures, people and their backgrounds, and learned to respect different viewpoints, Biden said. "Most of all, you've gained perspective, whether it's in the service of your family or in participating in a program. And that matters," he said.

"No one can tell you how small the world has become better than those who raised their hands a few moments ago who served abroad," Biden said. "As this world of ours continues to shrink, what happens in a remote province in Pakistan, Nigeria, Brazil, is known around the world in a matter of minutes."

Biden said he had simple advice for the graduates: Think big and imagine. Their greatest challenge, he said, will be in learning how to deploy emerging technologies wisely.
"Deploying it wisely means infusing technology with our oldest values -- values that you have learned here," he said. "The values of tolerance, respect, understanding. These are not some obsolete, old notions that don't matter anymore. The more advanced and shrunk the world becomes, the more critical those values become. They mean more than ever."
The vice president said he is confident in the graduates' abilities to meet U.S. and global challenges head on.

"I am absolutely confident in your ability to meet the challenges I have laid out head on, and to bend them -- to bend them -- to your will in your and our moral precepts," he said. "I'm confident of that because of where you come from, how you were raised, what you learned at this fine school, but most of all because who you are."

VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN & FAMILY SHARE DEPLOYMENT EXPERIENCES

FROM:  AMERICAN FORCES PRESS SERVICE
Vice President Joe Biden (center, far right) meets with military children and families at the District of Columbia National Guard Armory in Washington, D.C., June 9, 2012. The Biden family participated in a United Service Organizations of Metropolitan Washington-hosted reading of Dr. Jill Biden's book, "Don't Forget, God Bless Our Troops." The book teaches coping methods for military children who are dealing with the absence of loved ones during deployment. DOD photo by Army Sgt. 1st Class Tyrone C. Marshall Jr.

Biden Family Shares Deployment Experiences at USO Event
By Army Sgt. 1st Class Tyrone C. Marshall Jr.
WASHINGTON, June 9, 2012 - Vice President Joe Biden, accompanied by his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, and their five-year-old granddaughter, Natalie, shared their first-hand experiences on how the deployment of a military parent can impact children during a United Service Organizations-hosted book reading here today.

The Bidens traveled to the District of Columbia National Guard Armory to meet with children of members of the D.C. National Guard. Dr. Biden read from her new book, "Don't Forget, God Bless Our Troops."

Dr. Biden's book teaches coping methods for military children who are dealing with the absence of loved ones during deployment. The book provides a personal account of Natalie's experience in coping when her father, then-Army Capt. Joseph R. "Beau" Biden III, departed in the fall of 2008 for a year-long deployment to Iraq with his Delaware National Guard unit. Biden, a military lawyer, has since been promoted to major.
"There are tens of thousands of beautiful kids just like this all over the country," Vice President Biden said at the armory. "What we found out ... was when your mommy and daddy are away it's a hard thing. It's a difficult thing."

"So Jill found out there's a lot of ways to kind of make you feel better," he added. "By the way, it's not just little kids. You don't have to be four, five, six, seven or eight. You can be 17, 18, [or] 19. It doesn't matter."

Elaine Rogers, president of USO of Metropolitan Washington, explained to the children who Dr. Biden was and why she came up with the idea to write a book to help military families.

"She loves children," Rogers said of Dr. Biden. "But do you know which children are very special to her? Military children -- children who have ..." [one or both parents] "in the military."

Rogers said Dr. Biden knows things can be hard when parents are away because of her experiences with her own two grandchildren, Natalie and Hunter.

"This is Natalie's story, as well as your story, because how many your moms and dads have gone to Iraq or Afghanistan?" Dr. Biden asked the children. "What I realized when I went around this country, is that many Americans don't even know anybody, at all, in the military."

"And they don't know how strong you are and how resilient you are when your moms and dads are away," she added.

Prior to reading the book in its entirety, the Bidens provided free copies to each child at the armory. Proceeds from book sales, Rogers said, will be donated to the USO to support the education of military children.

"We're going to make scholarships for kids like you when you get ready to go to college," Rogers told the children.

Vice President Biden reminded the children to remember they are not alone in their experiences and their parents are constantly thinking of them.
"Just remember when your daddy and mommy are working for the country and they're away -- they're always, always thinking about you," he said. "And parents, thank you very much. Thank you for your service. It's amazing what you do."

VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN AT WEST POINT GRADUATION 2012

FROM:  AMERICAN FORCES PRESS SERVICE
Vice President Joe Biden shakes hands with cadet First Captain Charles Phelps during graduation at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., May 26, 2012. U.S. Army photos by Staff Sgt. Teddy Wade

Biden Details Challenges for New West Point Grads
By Jim Garamone
WASHINGTON, May 26, 2012 - West Point is even more important to the country today than when Gen. George Washington called it "the key to the continent," Vice President Joe Biden said during graduation exercises at the U.S. Military Academy today.

In 1777, West Point was a fortified area along the Hudson River that stopped the British from splitting the colonies. Today, the home of the military academy produces leaders who shape America and answer every call to duty the country makes, the vice president said.

Biden spoke to the 1,032 cadets who received their diplomas and were commissioned into service. He also spoke to their families and friends gathered under a hot sun at Michie Stadium.

The class represents the best of the 9/11 generation, the vice president said, adding that the cadets "are more than worthy of the proud legacy you inherit today."

The cadets, like all men and women who joined the military after 9/11, knew they would be deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, Biden said. "Hundreds of thousands of you have laced up those combat boots and walked across those barren deserts or snow-capped mountains, where 24 members of this graduating class have already served," he said.

The graduates will be commissioned officers, but they will also be much more, the vice president said. They will learn the intricacies of tribal politics, they will learn how to run a school system, put in irrigation, train indigenous forces and much more.

These young officers must learn counterinsurgency doctrine and apply it, but they must be ready for changes in the world, too, Biden said. The United States is working to strengthen NATO so it can continue being the most successful alliance in history, he said. And as the war in Iraq has ended and the war in Afghanistan ends, the military can spend time on other priorities including the Asia-Pacific region.

"The United States has long been and will remain a Pacific power, and a critical provider of peace, prosperity and security in this vital region," Biden told the cadets. "The most critical relationship to get right is that between the United States and China. Every day the affairs of our nations and the livelihoods of our citizens grow more connected. How we manage this relationship between the world's two largest economies ... will help shape the 21st century."

The United States also is working with other emerging powers like India, Brazil, Turkey and South Africa. "All these efforts are helping advance America's interests at home and around the world," he said.

The new strategic defense strategy will affect these new officers. The strategy provides "a more agile, flexible force prepared for future challenges, better able to confront the aggressors and project power with strong partners to share the burden and smart investments in cutting edge capabilities," he said.
America's unique position in the world requires the finest fighting force, Biden said. "And that's exactly what this strategy does," he said.

The U.S. Military Academy has prepared the new officers to face new challenges and lead. They have "the minds to adapt to tomorrow's horizons, from cyberspace to outer space," he said.

"West Point is in the business of producing great leaders," Biden said. "Class of 2012, this is your destiny – to lead your country."