Military Wife Answers Her Own Call to Service

Carissa Picard openly admits she isn't comfortable speaking in front of groups. Corner her privately afterward and she'll confess to not eating anything beforehand for fear she might become physically ill. Publicly or privately, however, she'll also tell you the message she carries is so important that she plans to spend the next few weeks speaking in front of Iowa groups at every available opportunity.

"Military spouses, above all else, want to support the person they love," said Picard, president of Military Spouses for Change. "Our organization was founded on the belief that political awareness and involvement is a key way military spouses can honor and support our troops. We can have a voice."

Picard's husband, Chief Warrant Officer Caynan Picard, is an active-duty helicopter pilot who recently returned to their home at Fort Hood, Texas after serving a year in Central America. He is expected to redeploy to Iraq in early 2008. Their family includes two sons, ages 6 and 3.

"Basically, we think we'll have about nine months before he's deployed again," Picard said while simultaneously smiling and blinking back tears. "It wasn't an easy decision for me to come to Iowa. But when we talked about it, Caynan asked if I thought I could make a difference. I told him that I thought I could and he told me I should go -- that it was my turn to serve my country."

Using personal funds, Picard has traveled from Texas to Iowa in hopes of bolstering support for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, a U.S. senator from Delaware.

"After we formed Military Spouses for Change, we researched the presidential candidates -- both Democrats and Republicans -- in relation to their views on the military and, in particular, on Iraq," she said. "That's how we came to endorse Joe Biden."

Researching the candidates, says the former regulatory attorney and college professor, was a real eye-opener.

"Everywhere you go, everyone says the war is the main issue of this election, but when you go to the candidate websites, you often find very little," she said. "We wanted to find someone who would not only protect our soldiers while they are there, but someone who had a responsible plan for extraction."

She says many of the Republican candidates advocate a plan based on the "definition of insanity."

"Insanity is doing the same thing you've always done," she explained, "and expecting a different result."

On the Democratic side, she felt little thought had gone into most candidates' statements on Iraq.

"Most of the Democrats' plans are basically to pull everyone out and let Iraq and it's neighbors clean up the mess that our invasion made," she said.

"I take issue with candidates who think we can 'send a message' by pulling all our troops out. If we do, we will leave Iraq with a government that simply does not work. Pulling out is not an answer to a non-workable government. On the other hand, we can't say that we just need to stop the violence so the government can work. Violence isn't the disease, it's just the symptom."

Biden's five-point plan "seems to have an idea which takes notice of the cultural reality of the Iraqi people," she said. "He doesn't advocate just walking away from the situation, but a change of direction that promotes stability of the region and modifies the mission of our troops. I believe his changes would allow our troops to start safe and successful phased withdrawal."

Leaving under those circumstances, Picard says, allows our troops "to leave with honor."

"Military families don't want to pull out now only to have to go back in a year or five years or 10 years to an even worse situation," she said.

Although she thinks Biden will do well on the domestic front, she says a bigger issue is at stake.

"The truth is Congress is the body mainly responsible for domestic policy," she said. "People need to remember that we are hiring the next commander-in-chief and we are doing so at a time when our international image is under stress.

Picard says coming to Iowa was her idea and that she contacted the Biden campaign in hopes they would welcome her voice here. She says this trip is something she felt she must do because Biden offers her family and other military families hope.

"We need someone with the experience, intelligence, judgment and diplomatic skills to improve our standing in the Middle East and strengthen our relationships with our allies. I think Joe Biden is the candidate who can best serve our military and lead our nation. That's why I took time away from my family to come to Iowa. He is the only candidate I trust with my husband's life. I want to do everything I can to make people at least give him another look."