First lady Jill Biden came to Fort Drum Monday to speak with families as part of the Joining Forces initiative, which was co-created in 2011 by former first lady Michelle Obama and Biden when she was second lady.

Located about 90 minutes north of Syracuse, Fort Drum is home to the most deployed division in the U.S. Army, the 10th Mountain Division. It's a division with 30,000-plus soldiers and family members that welcomed Biden for an important discussion.

At a luncheon, Biden spoke of wanting to get to know the soldiers and their familes. 

"I am going to take all of your stories, all your thoughts, even though if you have postive things to say, negative things to say, I want to take them back to my husband and say, 'Look, here is what we can do, here is what we need to do better,'" she said. "You are my community, you're my military family, and family as we all know is everything," Biden said. 

The Joining Forces initiative focuses on supporting military families, including improving job opportunities for military spouses. She said she wants to help families in areas including: health, wellness, education and employment. 

Biden is looking to end a near 22% military spouse unemployment rate by increasing opportunities, reducing red tape and through a new pilot, the Military Spouse Career Accelerator. The Department of Defense is offering paid 12-week fellowships with local employers to get careers started.

"We are working really hard to get you the opportunities that you all deserve," she said.

The base was recently asked to prepare for a potential deployment of the 10th Mountain Division earlier this month.

Soldiers will potentially backfill units currently in Europe.

“I want to say thank you to all those of you who have green on today in honor of the Eagles win last night,” the first lady, who is a Philadelphia Eagles fan, joked to a room of soldiers and their families on the Fort Drum USO.

Biden joked the Army green everyone was wearing was meant for her because her Philadelphia Eagles are now Super Bowl bound, thanks to winning a division championship game she attended Sunday night before coming to Fort Drum.

The first lady met a number of soldiers and their families at a special lunch.

“She really wanted to hear our issues and we were greatly appreciative of that and how you can continue to improve the army, the Army, family, welfare,” one attendee said.

She later attended a special roundtable.

“You know, I don't think it always, you know, just has to be the spouse who's giving up everything to follow someone else into their career,” Biden said.

She said she wanted to ensure military spouses have access to not only jobs, but careers.

“Every table I went to, there were military spouses there who were saying, 'I would really like to, you know, be employed. I'd like to find a job,'” Biden said.

For many, it's not easy trying to find a career when you may have to move every couple of years, or when you do have a career, your certifications — such as teaching or nursing — don't transfer from state to state. Even when a need to work remotely is required for child care, especially when a loved one is serving their nation overseas.

“There's so many different things that I think we can work on and we have two that really are just fair, are just right,” the first lady said.