Those of us who live in Kent County know how important Dover Air Force Base is to the nation’s military operations.

Many outside of here, however, don’t realize its importance until they take the trip here for an extremely unfortunate and tragic reason — to see their fallen loved ones return from war.
Last week, as 18 bodies landed on U.S. soil at Dover AFB, President Barack Obama made a late-night trip to the base to witness the transfers, a move he then was criticized for by his opponents, most notably Rush Limbaugh who described the trip as a mere “photo op.”

As an individual who receives email after email of dignified transfers approved for media coverage, I’m not sure the public, politicians or critics appreciate how many troops are returned to Dover. In October, I received 16, and those were just the ones the family OK’d for the media to attend.

It’s about time the president, the commander-in-chief, came to Dover to witness the transfers and see first-hand the casualties of war. With less than 100 miles separating Dover AFB and Andrews AFB in Washington, D.C., I can’t understand why the trip wasn’t made before. And as the president who lifted the ban on media coverage of the transfers — only with approval from the service member’s family, an important distinction to make — the trip made sense.

Obama’s critics would’ve jumped on the other side of the issue had he not made the trip given the number of service members returned that day — “He doesn’t care about 18 service members who gave their lives for their country,” they would say.

If it was truly a photo op, the local media would’ve been notified of the trip and we wouldn’t have to rely only on reports and photos from the White House press pool and the base Public Affairs office. That tells me the president wanted to witness the transfers on a more personal than political basis.

On a local level and a loosely related point, Obama’s visit should be of incredible importance to Kent County residents. The base represents a huge portion of our local economy and having the president visit the largest mortuary facility in the military and seeing the awesome and solemn operation that it is solidifies Dover’s role in Air Mobility Command, the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. military as a whole.

Email Maureen Raitz at maureen.raitz@doverpost.com.