Washington, Nov 13 (IANS) Second Lady Usha Vance and First Lady Melania Trump visited Fort Rucker in Alabama to thank military families for the sacrifices they make while supporting service members.
Vance praised families for building communities as they move between postings, according to Alabama-based Yellowhammer News.
“Wherever your country sends you, you find a way to make it home,” the outlet quoted her as saying.
The visit to the home of US Army Aviation came a day after Veterans Day. Vance introduced Trump, whose prepared remarks focused on the demands placed on families during deployments and the approaching Thanksgiving holiday.
“Your role is profound. While your loved ones are deployed, it’s up to you to keep your families strong, keep your children safe and to keep your homes full of love. This is a big responsibility,” Melania said according to the remarks by White House.
The first lady described the everyday moments families manage during a loved one’s absence, from helping with homework to celebrating birthdays and putting children to bed.
“The sacrifices of military families don’t make the headlines, but you are the foundation for the world’s most capable military,” the prepared remarks said.
The remarks said those sacrifices extended beyond Thanksgiving, although the holiday brought the image of an empty seat at the family table into sharper focus. They urged Americans gathering for the holiday to remember service members and families spending it apart.
Usha Vance, the Indian American wife of Vice President JD Vance, also highlighted her second annual Summer Reading Challenge. More than 30,000 children across the country participated and logged 360,000 books, Yellowhammer reported, attributing the figures to her remarks.
She said she believed some participants were from Fort Rucker and pointed to the post’s schools as an example of how military communities invest in children.
Trump later visited Ellis D. Parker Elementary School, meeting pupils in kindergarten and first-grade classrooms, according to the White House. She also recognised teachers who use technology in their lessons, a focus of her Fostering the Future initiative.
The 2026 Summer Reading Challenge invited children entering kindergarten through eighth grade to read and track 12 books of their choice between June 1 and September 4. The programme was linked to the 250th anniversary of America’s founding.
Vance and Trump also visited military families at Camp Lejeune and Marine Corps Air Station New River in North Carolina in November 2025.
–IANS
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