Right on the heels of last week's 'Sleevegate,' the mini-controversy caused by the First Lady's decision to go sleeveless at the Presidential Address, Michelle Obama chose a different approach while visiting military women at Arlington Cemetery on Tuesday.
WASHINGTON — First lady Michelle Obama on Tuesday observed women's history month by touring a memorial for women in the military. She said the country must do all it can to support not just the servicemember on active duty, but their families, too. Long and repeat tours of duty affect grandparents, parents, spouses and siblings, some of whom are left to look after the servicemember's children, Mrs. Obama said at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Center at Arlington National Cemetery. The plight of military families is among the issues Mrs. Obama wants to focus on from her perch at the White House. She heard from military families during the past two years as she traveled around the country campaigning for her husband, President Barack Obama.
With temperatures hovering at 29 degrees in Virginia on Tuesday, Mrs. Obama wisely bundled up. But did her many busy layers result in her first fashion blunder?
"As the president said last week during his address at Camp Lejeune, service doesn't end with the person wearing the uniform. You all know that," she told an audience of military personnel, members of Congress and other guests. "Military families have done their duty and we, as a grateful nation, must do ours. We must do everything in our power to honor them by supporting them, not just by words but by deeds," Mrs. Obama said. "And it is my great hope that today that future generations will honor women and men in uniform by first of all never taking the blessings of freedom for granted and by doing their part to create a more perfect union." In her remarks, she highlighted some of the achievements of military women throughout U.S. history. Among those singled out for special recognition were the two highest-ranking women in the military _ Gen. Ann Dunwoody, the first female four-star general, and Vice Admiral Vivien Crea of the U.S. Coast Guard, the first woman to serve as vice chief, or second in command, of one of the branches of the U.S. military.
Here Obama poses with veterans Alyce Dixon, 102, and Ester P. Corcoran, 103.
