After the 9/11 attacks, military enrollment jumped in the U.S. — but that has plummeted to record-low numbers today.

Moving may be a part of military life, but for families of color and other groups, military moves pose more than an inconvenience: They threaten their safety. That puts our nation’s readiness at risk.

The Department of Defense estimates there are roughly 1 million military spouses of active duty, reserve, and National Guard members. The U.S. Military Spouse Chamber of Commerce estimates there are an additional 11.2 million spouses of veterans, bringing the total number of military spouses to 12.2 million. But, according to the 2023 Blue Star Families Military Families Lifestyle Survey, the number of spouses who would recommend military service is grossly dwindling.

Blue Star Families can have a stressful life with loved ones actively serving in the military, and possibly overseas. On Friday, Patriots players made a group of Blue Star Families feel right at home with a front row seat to training camp, and a special two-wheeled gift delivered by the team.

First Lt. Daniel Weiss was a 25-year-old Army Ranger preparing for his fourth combat deployment to Afghanistan when he died by suicide at his Tacoma, Wash., apartment in 2012. There were difficult days after that, recalled his father, Andy. But what proved both surprising and hurtful, he said, were efforts to ensure his son’s death was viewed differently than those of fellow service members who had been killed in action.

The family learned, for instance, that Daniel’s name would be excluded from a monument at Joint Base Lewis-McChord memorializing casualties of war. A few years later, at a brunch for military survivors back home in Illinois, the Weisses were told their invitation had been an accident. Though they were allowed to stay, he said, it was made clear the event was for Gold Star families.

For military families stationed in the Pacific Northwest, an assigned base doesn’t often double as home. Most service members — roughly three in four at Joint-Base Lewis-McChord, the region’s largest installation — bring their families to live in surrounding communities. They face the same sticker shock as anyone living here — but Congress has failed to appropriately cover housing costs in Western Washington, as it has elsewhere for men and women in uniform.

Last night, at the urging of Moms First and nearly 15,000 moms and allies, the presidential debate moderators asked the candidates about child care at the first debate of the 2024 election. In a victory for American families, CNN’s Jake Tapper asked President Biden and former President Trump how they would lower child care costs for American families, citing a new report that found that the average cost of child care for two children is now higher than the average cost of rent in all 50 states.

The child care crisis in the United States—which affects families’ ability to find affordable, accessible, quality options—now has growing national security implications, too.

A nationwide shortage of qualified workers has affected the U.S. Department of Defense, which is the largest child care provider in the country, and that has meant that an estimated 9,000 children in military families have been placed on wait lists for classroom spots.

Disney has donated thousands of books to help make magic for military kids on a recent visit to a Marine Corps Base Camp.