Obama visits troops at Alaska base

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Nov. 12 (UPI) -- President Barack Obama Thursday used a refueling stop on the first leg of an Asian trip to address service members at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska.

Obama got a friendly reception from about 1,500 people during a speech in a hangar at the base. When someone in the crowd shouted "I love you," the president answered "I love you back."

The speech at Elmendorf was Obama's third in three days to the military or veterans. He spoke Tuesday at a service commemorating the 13 people killed in the massacre at Fort Hood, Texas, and he spoke on Veterans Day at Arlington National Cemetery.

In his remarks Thursday, Obama promised the government would take care of those who serve in the U.S. military while they are in and after they leave.

"We'll spend our defense dollars wisely," he said. "So we're cutting tens of billions of dollars in waste and projects that even the Pentagon says it doesn't need -- money that's better spent on taking care of you and your families and building the 21st-century military that we do need."