It’s no secret that military life is tough, and sometimes it feels even harder on the families of deployed and mobilized soldiers than on the enlisted members themselves. Even though we live in a highly technological age, a lot of these services aren’t available for the military; for example, one of my friends just shipped out in Japan on the USS George Washington (CVN-73), and he told me that even Facebook is blocked on board the vessel. This is not to mention the fact that video casting services like Skype also present many difficulties as well. Of course, the Navy has banned these services for security purposes, but it creates a highly frustrating process for soldiers to make any sort of contact with those they leave behind as they serve our country.

As such, the Nickelodeon show “iCarly” (which focuses upon a teenage girl and her friends, who star in their own web-cast series) has filmed an episode about families trying to reach out their loved ones as they serve abroad, and First Lady Michelle Obama makes a guest appearance:

Michelle Obama has gone from the White House to Nickelodeon. The First Lady will appear as very special guest star on the hit Nick show, “iCarly.”

According to E! Online, Obama dropped by the set Monday to film her guest spot, which she hopes will shed light on Joining Forces, a program dedicated to helping and honoring U.S. military families.

The episode revolves around Carly (played by Miranda Cosgrove) who breaks some rules in an attempt to set up a video chat with her dad, who is serving overseas. The First Lady, playing herself, hears about Carly’s attempts and drops by to talk about how important it is for families and soldiers overseas to connect.

[Popeater]

In slightly related news, Mrs. Obama has also made a handful of recent apperances on the Disney Channel for a PSA series called “Magic of Healthy Living.” Here’s one of the episodes in which she interacts with some of the Disney’s teen stars to teach them about healthy food portion sizes. It’s great that Michelle Obama is taking so much time out of her schedule to target tween-related issues, and it’s especially beneficial that she’s placing great emphasis (with the “iCarly” appearance) upon military familes because so many of us are still in the process of missing our own soldiers. The “iCarly” episode won’t air until next January, but here’s a behind the scenes clip:

“iCarly” still courtesy of TeenStarsWorld and Nickelodeon