President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will kick off Thanksgiving week with a visit to Fort Bragg in North Carolina on Monday.
The first couple will participate in a Thanksgiving meal with service members and military families as part of the Joining Forces initiative, which is one of Jill Biden's signature issues, the White House announced.
It's traditional for presidents to incorporate some event with the military on Thanksgiving.
President Donald Trump did calls with service members stationed overseas and made an unannounced visit to troops serving in Afghanistan in 2019.
Barack Obama also incorporated service members into his holiday plans. In 2016, he and his family helped serve a Thanksgiving meal to residents of a retirement home for military veterans in Washington, D.C.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will kick off Thanksgiving week with a visit to Fort Bragg in North Carolina on Monday
The Bidens will spend Thanksgiving on Nantucket, where they have gone for decades; above Vice President-elect Joe Biden, Jill Biden and his family and friends walk down Old Colony Street in Hyannis Mass., in November 2008 to board a mid-day ferry to Nantucket for the Thanksgiving holiday
Joe and Jill Biden posted a Thanksgiving message with their daughter Ashley last year
In 2009, then Vice President Joe Biden and second lady Jill Biden hosted Fisher House service members and family at the US Naval Observatory for a Thanksgiving meal
Jill Biden visited North Carolina’s Camp Lejeune in September after the death of 13 service members during a suicide bombing in Afghanistan. She revived her and Michelle Obama's Joining Forces Initiative after she became first lady.
Fort Bragg is one of the largest military bases in the world, with 53,700 troops and 14,000 civilians. It is home to the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division.
Biden will spend Thanksgiving on Nantucket, the Boston Globe reported. The Bidens have spent the Thanksgiving holiday on the posh island for years - nearly every year since 1975, including when he was vice president.
He does not own a home there and has stayed in different rental properties. But he was often seen participating in local events - such as the Turkey Trot and the cold water plunge.
It's unclear if he will have as much freedom to do so as president, which requires a large group of Secret Service agents, staff and press following his public moves.
Last year, Biden and Jill celebrated Thanksgiving at their home in Rehoboth Beach, Del., because of the COVID pandemic, when medical experts were advising against large crowds. Only their daughter Ashley and her husband joined them.
It's unclear when the president will depart for Nantucket. This Friday Biden will participate in the traditional pardoning of the turkey. He turns 79 on Saturday.
Part of the uncertainty about his travel comes from the status of his Build Back Better bill - his $1.85 trillion budget package of social programs.
The House is expected to start debate on it on Wednesday.
And Speaker Nancy Pelosi is using an age-old pressure tactic as she tries to amass the votes to to pass the measure - saying lawmakers won't be flying home for the Thanksgiving holiday until they vote on it.
Biden could be needed to meet with reluctant Democrats to get them over the finish line - a role he played in passing the infrastructure bill.
But there is uncertainty about the status of Biden's Build Back Better bill - his $1.85 trillion budget package of social programs - and if it will
