First lady offers a White House welcome for Hampton Roads sailors

First lady offers a White House welcome for Hampton Roads sailors

By Hugh Lessig

247-7821

10:30 PM EDT, July 31, 2009


NORFOLK - First lady Michelle Obama on Friday pledged the administration's continued support for military families in addressing homecoming sailors, their spouses and children at Naval Station Norfolk.

"I will use every ounce of my power in this position to highlight the sacrifices that you make, and to rally the country around you," she said. "It won't stop today."

Mrs. Obama addressed military families in the 2008 presidential campaign and has maintained that theme during her husband's first months in office.

Hampton Roads offered her a built-in audience.

Some 6,000 sailors arrived home this week with the return of the aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower from supporting coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Also this week, the USNS Comfort arrived in Norfolk, bringing home 42 staff members of Naval Medical Center Portsmouth from a four-month humanitarian mission in the Caribbean and Central and South America.

Speaking directly to an audience of about 250 on a wind-whipped pier, the first lady praised the crews of the Ike and the Comfort and highlighted areas of President Barack Obama's budget that benefit service members. That includes a pay raise and more permanent forces to reduce the stress of long deployments.
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First lady offers a White House welcome for Hampton Roads sailors