Oct. 29 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama said his early morning trip to take part in a ceremony marking the return of 18 Americans killed in Afghanistan was a “sobering reminder” of the burdens of war.

Obama, who traveled to an Air Force base in Delaware where the remains were returned to U.S. soil this morning, told reporters at the White House he is “constantly mindful” of the sacrifices made by U.S. personnel.

“The burden that both our troops and our families bear in any wartime situation is going to bear on how I see these conflicts,” he said.

The president made the unannounced trip to Dover Air Force Base as the deadliest month for American forces in the eight- year war draws to a close and he considers a new U.S. strategy in Afghanistan. Fifty-five U.S. military personnel have been killed in the conflict so far in October.

The casualties returned were seven soldiers and three Drug Enforcement Agency agents killed in a helicopter crash and eight soldiers who died when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb blast in the Arghandab River Valley, according to Air Force Major Carl P. Grusnick. Both incidents occurred Oct. 26.

Reporters traveling with Obama, who were told of the trip about four hours before departing, witnessed Obama participating in the transfer of Army Sergeant Dale R. Griffin, whose family consented to media coverage.

Prayer and Ceremony

In a pre-dawn chill at the Air Force base, Obama boarded the C-17 cargo plane that transported Griffin to the U.S. A prayer was led on board by an Air Force chaplain. Obama then stood at attention at the base of the plane’s loading ramp as Griffin’s family arrived.

Obama saluted as six Army soldiers carried the flag-draped transfer case from the plane to a waiting vehicle, which then drove away.

Obama made the trip as he is reviewing U.S. strategy for the war in Afghanistan that includes a decision about whether to send as many as 40,000 more soldiers to the country. The U.S. has committed about 68,000 military personnel to the conflict by the end of the year.

Speaking to servicemen at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, in Florida, on Oct. 26, Obama said he wouldn’t “rush the solemn decision of sending you into harm’s way.”

Obama hasn’t decided whether his new Afghanistan strategy will be announced before the country’s Nov. 7 runoff election, administration officials have said.

Strategy Session

Obama will confer with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, his top military advisers, tomorrow as part of his deliberations.

Obama told reporters before meeting with Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore in the Oval Office today that the trip was “a sobering reminder of the extraordinary sacrifices that our young men and women in uniform are engaging in every single day.”

Dover Air Force Base, about 80 miles (128 kilometers) east of Washington, is the traditional point of return to the U.S. for members of the military killed overseas.

Obama left the White House in Marine One shortly before midnight yesterday for the 40-minute flight to the Air Force base. He returned about 4:40 this morning. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and National Security Council Chief of Staff Denis McDonough traveled with the president.

Also on hand were Attorney General Eric Holder, Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz and DEA acting administrator Michele Leonhart.

Meeting With Families

Family members of many of the fallen Americans met with Obama at a base chapel after he arrived. They were in attendance for the transfers, one of which was open to the press.

Obama earlier this year reversed an 18-year-old policy barring media coverage of returning war dead.

The Pentagon said the original policy was established to protect the privacy of the return ceremony. Now families of fallen American troops can decide if they will allow media coverage.

Obama is the first president to visit Dover Air Force Base for returning casualties since Bill Clinton came in 1996 after his Secretary of Commerce, Ronald Brown, was killed in a plane crash in Europe.

Like his predecessor, President George W. Bush, Obama has regularly met with service members and the families of troops killed in battle. On Oct. 8, he welcomed a group of wounded veterans to the White House for a game of wheelchair basketball.

Public Support

Public support for the war has waned as U.S. casualties have mounted. In January 2002, only 6 percent of Americans surveyed by the Gallup Poll thought the war was a mistake compared with 37 percent who said so in September. As of today, 887 Americans have died in the war.

In a briefing with reporters yesterday, Gibbs said writing condolence letters to families who have lost loved ones in the war is the “hardest task” Obama has faced in his presidency.

“He understands the amazing sacrifice that our armed forces makes,” Gibbs said. “He understands the burden that our military has shouldered over the past many years, responding to crises all over the world.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Nicholas Johnston in Dover, Delaware, at njohnston3@bloomberg.net; Kate Andersen Brower in Washington at kandersen7@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 29, 2009 15:14 EDT