At inaugural ball, Obama pledges to serve troops

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President Obama dances with Army Sgt. Margaret Herrera while first lady Michelle Obama dances with Marine Sgt. Elidio Guillen during the Commander In Chief's Inaugural Ball Tuesday at the National Building Museum in Washington.


At inaugural ball, Obama pledges to serve troops
By Kevin Baron, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, January 22, 2009

WASHINGTON — There are few places where an American Idol winner plays fourth fiddle, and rock superstar Jon Bon Jovi is just a warm-up act on a side stage.

But at the Commander-In-Chief’s Ball, hundreds of military men and women and their dates held their positions for hours, waiting anxiously for the biggest star of the day: President Barack Obama.

When the president emerged waving from a giant backdrop lit with stars and stripes, the troops, including 300 invited wounded warriors from Walter Reed Army Medical Center and their families, erupted in jubilation. Obama shook hands with the senior enlisted advisers of the five services before taking the podium, pledging to work hard for the military and their families, while continuing his call for national unity and service.

"Every single day that I am in the White House, I will try to serve you as well as you are serving the United States of America," the president said.

Obama called the day a "celebration of our military and our military families," noting to a big cheer that first lady Michelle Obama already has begun working with military families.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=60160