Top officer attends spouses meeting

NORFOLK, Va., May 11 (UPI) -- U.S. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made a surprise appearance at a meeting of military spouses in Norfolk, Va.

Mullen, the highest ranking officer in the U.S. military and President Obama's top military adviser, stopped in briefly at the conference Monday where his wife, Deborah Mullen, was the keynote speaker, the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot reported.

Mullen thanked the spouses at the conference organized by the Continuum of Resource Education, which informs and supports military spouses, and told them that their contribution to national security is more important now than it has ever been.

"We have a stronger military now than ever before. We know that has a lot to do with you. I came to say thank you," Mullen said.

Mullen said families who are supporting wounded veterans should "be ferocious" in working with the bureaucracy of the military and the Department of Veterans Affairs to make sure soldiers are getting appropriate treatment and benefits.

"We are all big, slumbering organizations. Sometimes we need a mother, a wife or a father to jolt us. … You can't do enough," Mullen said.