President Trump said it’s not “overly necessary” to visit U.S. service members in the war zone, but added in an interview Tuesday that he does plan to make a trip to Iraq or Afghanistan at some point.
“Well, I will do that at some point, but I don’t think it’s overly necessary,” Trump said in an interview with the Associated Press. “I’ve been very busy with everything that’s taking place here.”
While Trump has visited with service members in the U.S. and at overseas bases in Italy and South Korea, he has yet to travel to active war zones, unlike former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
Bush made a surprise appearance in Iraq for Thanksgiving in 2003, and traveled to Afghanistan in 2006. Obama met with troops in Iraq three months after his inauguration in 2009, and flew to Afghanistan the following year.
Vice President Mike Pence became the highest-ranking member of the Trump administration to conduct such a visit before Christmas last year, when he showed up announced at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan.
Trump said his efforts to rebuild the military outweigh war zone visits.
“I’m doing a lot of things. I’m doing a lot of things,” he said. “But it’s something I’d do. And do gladly. Nobody has been better at the military. Hey, I just got them a pay raise.
“I just got them new equipment. They have stuff that was so old that the grandfathers used to fly it,” Trump added. “I have done more for the military than any president in many, many years.”
