Jill Biden meets troops in Germany

BAMBERG, Germany — Jill Biden, the wife of the U.S. vice president, observed U.S. Independence Day by visiting American troops in Germany en route to an education conference in Paris.

Biden stressed Friday that supporting soldiers and their families was important to her work as the wife of Vice President Joe Biden, as well as a personal priority. The couple’s son, Capt. Beau Biden, is serving in Iraq with the Army National Guard.

“I am a military mom,” she said after having lunch with soldiers and their families at the Army base in this Bavarian city. “I know what it’s like to have a loved one in a war zone.”

Biden chatted with half a dozen soldiers about their service and military life in Germany, a day before Americans mark Independence Day on Saturday.

She said expanding services for children and families of soldiers who relocate frequently and more mental health programming were among initiatives she would like to see in the armed forces.

“Military families are under a lot of stress. Especially in a time of war,” Biden said.

Her husband made his first visit to Iraq as vice president on Friday. The White House announced on June 30 that he had been tasked with overseeing the Administration’s Iraq policy.

Jill Biden’s five-day visit to Europe, her first solo trip abroad since the new U.S. government was inaugurated in January, will lead her to a holiday softball game at an U.S. Army garrison in Schweinfurt, Germany, on Saturday.

The following day, Biden, an adjunct professor at Northern Virginia Community College and a teacher for more than 28 years, will travel to Paris to deliver a keynote address at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization conference on higher education.