Biden urges service members to uphold pledge to ‘support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic’. With just four days remaining in his term as the commander-in-chief of America’s military, President Joe Biden urged the six armed services members to remain true to their pledge to uphold the U.S. Constitution as he addressed them for the final time.
![[Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, from left, presents a plaque to President Joe Biden for the medal for Distinguished Public Service as First Lady Jill Biden and Charlene Austin watch during a Department of Defense Commander-in-Chief farewell ceremony at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/16/20/AP25016722988346.jpg)
“Our commitment to honor, to integrity, to unity, to protecting and defending not a person or a party or a place, but an idea,” Biden said on Thursday. Biden, who addressed an assemblage of service members and dignitaries including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Vice President Kamala Harris, their spouses and First Lady Jill Biden at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Virginia, used the appearance to recount his administration’s accomplishments that benefited American forces and veterans. They included enacting the PACT Act to increase access to medical care for veterans exposed to toxic substances, as well as to combat the rash of suicides that has plagued the veteran community for years.
“We brought veterans homelessness to record lows, made historic changes to the military justice system, which has reduced the rates of sexual assault for the first time in nearly a decade, rescinded the ban on transgender service. We took landmark steps to create more economic opportunities for military spouses. We expanded opportunities for women in combat roles,” he said.
He also noted that he’d appointed the first-ever female military officer to lead one of the nation’s armed services, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Lisa Franchetti before urging the audience to “clap for that” because “she deserves it.”.
