Obama would tell daughters to 'go for it' if they wanted to enlist

United States President Barack Obama has said that he would be proud if his daughters decided to serve in the military, but admitted he would be nervous too.

“If Malia and Sasha decided that that was an avenue that they wanted to take, I would be proud of them,” Obama said at a military town hall in Virginia.

“Now, I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t sometimes get nervous about possible deployments. You know, your kids are your kids. And you want to keep them tucked in, in their pajamas for the rest of their lives, if you had a chance. But I’d be proud to have them serve, and I think every parent who’s seen their children enter the military are proud,” Obama said.

The US president was responding to a question as to what advice would he give to Malia and Sasha if they approached him and expressed their interest in serving in the military. “I’d say go for it,” he said.

“I will tell you, I signed up for Selective Service when I was 18. The Vietnam War had just wound down. There weren’t any active wars. We hadn’t been under attack. And so I took a different course, and I didn’t end up serving in our military,” he added.

Obama said a number of members of his staff in the White House who themselves have served and their children now are serving.

“And they were nervous about it initially and are now seeing the way their characters of their children are being shaped. It’s terrific,” he said at the Fort Lee town hall in
Virginia.

Image: US President Barack Obama with his daughters – Sasha and Malia -- in the Rose Garden at the White House. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images