{"id":34945,"date":"2018-10-17T14:49:51","date_gmt":"2018-10-17T14:49:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/10\/17\/top-senate-democrat-urges-trump-to-visit-troops-fighting-overseas\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T07:14:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T07:14:37","slug":"top-senate-democrat-urges-trump-to-visit-troops-fighting-overseas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2018\/10\/17\/top-senate-democrat-urges-trump-to-visit-troops-fighting-overseas\/","title":{"rendered":"Why doesn\u2019t Trump visit troops fighting overseas?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 President Donald Trump needs to visit troops deployed to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2018\/06\/19\/despite-17-years-of-war-next-us-commander-in-afghanistan-sees-progress\/\" target=_blank>overseas combat zones<\/a> soon, out of respect for their sacrifices, says a top defense lawmaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think it should be done,\u201d said <a href=\"http:\/\/caucus.militarytimes.com\/speaker\/jack-reed\/\" target=_blank>Senate Armed Services ranking member Jack Reed<\/a>, D-R.I., in a roundtable with reporters on Wednesday. \u201cIt\u2019s not just to get an idea what is going on, but to personally thank the men and women of the United States who are exposing themselves to great dangers for the country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reed\u2019s opinion came in response to comments from the president earlier this week during <a href=\"https:\/\/www.apnews.com\/a28cc17d27524050b37f4d91e087955e\" target=_blank>an Associated Press interview<\/a> where he was asked why he hasn\u2019t yet scheduled a visit to Afghanistan or Iraq, to meet with U.S. troops deployed there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI will do that at some point, but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s overly necessary,\u201d Trump said. \u201cI\u2019ve been very busy with everything that\u2019s taking place here \u2026 I\u2019m doing a lot of things. But it\u2019s something I\u2019d do. And do gladly.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNobody has been better at the military &#8230; I have done more for the military than any president in many, many years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2018\/10\/16\/us-has-limited-contact-oversight-of-afghan-troops-and-the-gear-theyve-been-given\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"157\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4344614.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">US has limited contact, oversight of Afghan troops and the gear they\u2019ve been given<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The Government Accountability Office has found that U.S. advisers almost never interact at the tactical level with conventional Afghan troops.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump has made frequent visits to stateside U.S. military bases during his first term in office, often praising service members for their sacrifices in the ongoing wars overseas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But after nearly two years in office, he has yet to visit a combat zone, something that his predecessors made a point of doing early in their presidencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Former President Barack Obama traveled to Iraq in April 2009, just a few months after taking office, as part of an extended overseas tour. His first trip to Afghanistan didn\u2019t come until his second year in office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Former President George W. Bush visited Iraq in November 2003 \u2014 about eight months after the start of that conflict \u2014 but did not travel to Afghanistan for the first time until 2006 because of security concerns surrounding a potential presidential visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reed, who has visited both countries more than a dozen times in the last 16 years, called the visits \u201csomething the commander-in-chief should do.\u201d He also called the first-hand experience of seeing the warfighters and talking to commanders on the ground \u201cindispensable\u201d in formulating national security strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Earlier this month, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., led a delegation of Republican lawmakers on a trip to Afghanistan for his last official overseas trip before retiring at the end of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI wanted to thank the men and women who continue to sacrifice every day in the war against global terrorism,\u201d he said in a statement after the trip. \u201cThis conflict \u2014 the sacrifices being made \u2014 matter.These brave soldiers have served, many on repeat deployments, and America stands firmly behind them in our gratitude.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Texas \u2014 who in the past has downplayed the importance of Trump making an overseas combat zone visit \u2014 traveled with Ryan and called the event a rewarding, informative visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;After my visit to Kabul, I am more convinced than ever that we have the right team in place to capitalize on the momentum we are starting to see as a result of the President\u2019s South Asia Strategy,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOur priority must be to continue to provide the necessary support to achieve these ends. It is the only way we can reliably defend America from the dangerous terrorist organizations that continue to operate in Afghanistan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">There\u2019s no greater honor than visiting our troops\u2014and that\u2019s why I wanted to thank the brave men and women serving in Afghanistan for my last congressional delegation as Speaker of the House. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/BO9rpOtsRQ\">pic.twitter.com\/BO9rpOtsRQ<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SpeakerRyan\/status\/1050751120275099648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 12, 2018<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After nearly two years in office, he has yet to visit a combat zone, and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee says it&#8217;s time he did.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":68677,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":68,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[100,12,25,68],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3334],"class_list":["post-34945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"CNI2I3W5LZCUDA4OYNM3SMK3PM","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2018\/10\/17\/top-senate-democrat-urges-trump-to-visit-troops-fighting-overseas\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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