Jill Biden speaks to graduating Marines, honors those who choose to serve
By Delayna Earley
The Island News
PARRIS ISLAND – Fifty years after the U.S. military transitioned to an all-volunteer force, First Lady Jill Biden paid a visit to Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island (MCRD Parris Island) to speak to a group of graduating Marine recruits and their families about the sacrifice made by those who choose to serve their country.
While MCRD Parris Island has had many distinguished guests, Biden’s trip to the island is the first since former president Ronald Reagan’s visit in June 1986 that such a major political figure has visited.
Biden, who spoke during the depot’s weekly graduation ceremony on Friday, June 30, focused her speech those who choose to serve, but also those family and friends who support the members of the U.S. military.
On July 1, 2023, the U.S. Armed Forces will celebrate the decision made in January 1973 to move away from the draft and have the U.S. military would fill its ranks with volunteers.
Since then, more than 11 million men and women have joined the U.S. Armed Forces.
Roughly 200 Marine recruits in Company F, 2nd Recruit Training Battalion graduated during a ceremony at MCRD Parris Island after making their way through a 13-week training program.
During her speech, Biden emphasized the bravery of those who enlist, but also the dedication and importance of their family members who make the sacrifice that the enlisted men and women make possible.
Biden talked about her father, Donald Jacobs, who joined the military after Pearl Harbor was attacked at the age of 17, and how his service affected her life growing up.
“His service defined his life,” Biden said about her father. “And it shaped mine as well – I grew up in a middle-class suburb of Philly, going to watch the Blue Angels airshow in the summer and listening to military bands.”
She said that she didn’t really understand the gravity of her father’s decision to enlist until her son, Beau, enlisted after the U.S. was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001.
“I saw how strong the call of duty was inside him, just like it was for so many who saw us attacked on 9/11, how it gave him courage and conviction, despite the dangers of war that we witnessed on the news each night,” Biden said.
In her speech, she talked about the sacrifices that his family had to make while he was deployed to Iraq, as the families of the graduating Marine recruits will have to make sacrifices of their own.
She recognized that “military service is an opportunity of dignity and honor,” which is why she and former First Lady Michelle Obama launched the initiative Joining Forces in 2011, in hopes of supporting military and veteran families with support, access to health and welfare programs and educational resources.
Biden has visited more than 25 military installations, and the initiative has partnered to support more than 50 events to support the military-connected community.
Members of the graduating class of Marine recruits were surprised and excited to have the First Lady speak at their graduation.
Pvt. Hunter Clibourn, of Nashville, Tenn., said that his time on MCRD Parris Island helped him to become a better man, while he celebrated with family after the graduation ceremony.
“I didn’t expect the president’s wife to be here,” Pvt. Clibourn said. “At first when they said that she was going to be here, I thought they were just kidding so that we would be perfect in our drills.”
Following the ceremony, Biden left MCRD Parris Island in her motorcade to head back to the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort (MCAS Beaufort) so that she could board Air Force Two and return to Washington D.C.
Delayna Earley lives in Beaufort with her husband, two children and Jack Russell. She formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She joined The Island News in 2022. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
