Michelle Obama thanks military families

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Oct. 22 (UPI) -- Michelle Obama, campaigning for her husband Barack Obama in Florida Wednesday, said the country has to do better for military families.

"One of the things that I've been doing over this past 20 months is traveling around the country having conversations with the family who are left behind when our men and women go off to serve because, oftentimes, we don't hear their voices," Obama told a crowd in Jacksonville. "We don't understand their challenges."

One of the centerpieces of her husband's campaign is to end the war in Iraq.

The Democratic presidential nominee's wife said families, "in addition to worrying about whether your loved ones are safe and whether they're going to come home to good opportunities, (are) often left behind holding down the fort ... Not knowing what's going to happen next, you are worrying about the grocery bills and your children's education and your healthcare."

She added that one of her "hopes and dreams is that we can continue to work together to make sure that the voices of military families are heard, because the truth is that no matter what the cause, when our troops go to war, their families go with them. And we have to make sure that when they (service members) are off fighting for our country, that they know that the ones they love so much are cared for by this country."