Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is greeted by Col. Adam Cobb, 82nd Airborne Division chief of staff, and Command Sgt. Maj. Randolph Delapena on May 12, 2023, during a visit to Fort Bragg, N.C. (Chad J. McNeeley/DoD)

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin traveled to the Army's largest base in the United States to meet with some military families and listen to them talk about their concerns about quality-of-life problems, in particular finding and paying for child care.

Austin said he chose to visit Fort Bragg to listen to Army families because he has a personal connection to the North Carolina base and some of the brightest minds in the service are stationed there. Austin held several commands at Fort Bragg during his Army career.

"My No. 1 priority is to defend this country," he told a group of soldiers with the 82nd Airborne Division, part of the Army's XVIII Airborne Corps that's stationed at the base. "My second priority is to take care of people and I want to make sure that you have the resources that you need to be successful."

Austin flew into Fayetteville in the southern part of North Carolina on Friday to spend several hours on a whirlwind tour, meeting with many people at many stops — service leaders, policy advisers, new ROTC graduates and concerned military families.

During a private meeting with Austin, families told him about some of their top struggles with military life, including difficulty finding, keeping and paying for child care on bases. Part of the problem is there aren't enough on-base providers, which leaves only one option — private child care off base, which is more expensive, they said.

On some installations, military parents are stuck on long waitlists for on-base child care. The problem has gotten so serious, the military has been helping families pay for Pentagon-approved providers off base.

A congressional watchdog report issued this year said the problem in particular affects lower-ranking service members who struggle more to afford private care, even with the Pentagon helping to pay for it.

“We heard a lot of questions from service members today on child care,” a defense official on the trip said after Austin's meeting with the families.

The family members asked Austin whether more can be done to help them, the official said. Austin said one help that he wants to institute is stripping down some of the military process for dual-income families.

In his meeting, Austin said a partial solution is in helping spouses find employment quicker and removing some of the burdens on dual-income households. One way that the Pentagon is looking to do this is getting state governments to allow spouses to quickly transfer their professional licenses — such as a nursing or business license. In many cases, it can now take months for spouses to get licensed in another state, which means months of lost income.

In December, the Pentagon announced an increase in the rates that it would pay for on-base providers – a measure to keep them from seeking higher pay elsewhere — and increased the private-care subsidy from $1,500 to $1,700 per month. Austin promised the families that more will be done to help, the defense official said.

Later during Austin’s tour of the Fort Bragg area, he underscored what he said was a sign of the Pentagon's commitment to military families by visiting children at nearby Kimberly Hampton Primary School, a Defense Department-operated facility for 800 children of military members from pre-kindergarten through 1st grade.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his wife Charlene on May 12, 2023, visited with teachers and students at Hampton Primary School at Fort Bragg, N.C. During the visit to Fort Bragg, Austin also met with Army Forces Command leaders, families from the 82nd Airborne Division, a child development center, and Fayetteville State University ROTC students. (Chad J. McNeeley/DoD)

After entering, Austin stopped in the hallway to speak with a seven-year-old girl who mentioned how proud she was that her school is named after a female military hero. Army Capt. Kimberly Hampton was a member of the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg and helicopter pilot who died in the Iraq War in 2004. She was the first female U.S. military pilot to be shot down and killed by enemy fire.

“Remember, you can be anything you want to be if you’re willing to work for it,” Austin told her, saying he’s excited to see what she will be doing in 25 years.

Another young girl from another classroom wasn’t shy about rattling off a series of her favorite school subjects and told Austin she's thinking about multimedia production as a career.

Austin's tour of Fort Bragg highlighted another prevailing issue in the military – the inability to recruit enough qualified troops.

Last week, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth told lawmakers that the service will not meet its goal of 65,000 new recruits in 2023. Air Force and Navy leaders have also told lawmakers those services will have recruiting shortfalls this year.

Last year, the Army missed its recruiting goal by 15,000 and the services have introduced several incentives to boost those numbers, including financial bonuses, a new recruiting ribbon, choice of duty station out of basic training, and promotion points.

When Austin met with soldiers at Fort Bragg on Friday, he repeatedly told them how much they are needed and President Joe Biden is always thinking about their well-being.

"Be proud of who you are, America's best,” he told another group of soldiers in the 82nd Airborne. "We have sent you a lot of places in the past, and we’re going to call on you again. And when we call you again, my expectation is that you will be ready."

The trip to Fayetteville had other personal connections for Austin, a retired four-star Army general. Beyond serving at Fort Bragg in his military career, his wife Charlene graduated from nearby Fayetteville State University, one of North Carolina's oldest Historically Black Universities, where Austin on Saturday gave a commencement address.

Fort Bragg, however, will only be Fort Bragg for a few more weeks. Named for Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg, a controversial figure from the Civil War whose family was said to have own slaves, the base will be redesignated Fort Liberty on June 2.

The change is one of many that have been ordered by the Pentagon in the past year at southern bases with names honoring other Confederate leaders.