Obama said her commitment to improving family support began two years ago at the beginning of her husband's campaign, after hearing about the challenges military spouses faced.
"I spent a lot of my time talking about issues that really affected me as a working mom," Obama said. "I met more and more military families who were not just struggling with those basic issues that all civilians are dealing with, but they were tacking on multiple tours of duty and having to figure out how do you keep a family together when you moved 10 times in the same number of years."
"I was moved by the power of those stories, and I committed to myself then that if I was blessed with the opportunity to be the nation's First Lady, then I would make the issues facing military families a top priority for me," she added.
The First Lady said some of the issues military families faced included quality education on military posts, adequate childcare for families who live on- and off-post and for military spouses, how to balance higher education, careers and family support during deployments.