Governor Josh Stein and North Carolina Department of Military and Veterans Affairs Secretary Jocelyn Mallette visited Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune on August 29, 2025. During the visit, Governor Stein attended the North Carolina Commanders Council (NCCC) quarterly meeting and toured the base. The NCCC serves as a forum for military base leaders across the state to discuss issues and priorities affecting service members and their families.
“North Carolina’s military installations are critical to our national security and state economy, with more than 130,000 military and civilian Department of Defense personnel across North Carolina,” said Governor Josh Stein. “I was pleased to listen to and learn from the Commanders Council about how the state can best support our service members and their families through the challenges they face while on duty.”
Secretary Jocelyn Mitnaul Mallette emphasized the importance of supporting military families. “Supporting military families is not just an act of gratitude—it is a commitment to the strength, resilience, and future of our state,” she said. “North Carolina has the fourth largest active-duty population of any state, and when the leaders of our state and the commanders of our military installations stand together, military families win.”
Brigadier General Ralph Rizzo expressed appreciation for Governor Stein’s engagement with military leadership at Camp Lejeune. “I’m grateful for Governor Stein’s visit to Camp Lejeune and his engagement with the North Carolina Commanders Council,” he said. “His commitment to military families, veterans, and the communities that support our installations helps ensure they remain resilient power projection platforms that are capable of projecting combat power at the time and place of our Nation’s choosing. By strengthening partnerships and building awareness of the challenges facing our bases, our collaborative efforts will directly enhance the readiness of our Marines and Sailors.”
This month, North Carolina joined a joint initiative between Blue Star Families and the National Governors Association by becoming a Do Your Part State. This program aims to help states implement policies that benefit military families.
In 2025, Governor Stein signed four bills designed to assist service members’ families in areas such as transferring professional licenses for spouses moving from out-of-state, simplifying remote driver’s license renewal processes, aiding parents enrolling children in public schools, and making tuition more affordable for military students attending institutions within the University of North Carolina System.
