The fallen consist of seven soldiers and three Drug Enforcement Administration agents who died when their MH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed Monday, and eight soldiers killed Tuesday when their Stryker vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb blast in the Arghandab district of Kandahar province.

Press secretary Robert Gibbs said the president would travel by helicopter to the base to attend an arrival ceremony for the fallen troops and DEA agents before returning to the White House about 4 a.m. The visit was not listed on Obama’s public schedule, and the reporters accompanying him were told just hours before his departure.

The president’s attendance at the solemn rite will mark an emotional moment as his administration mulls over the way forward in Afghanistan. October has been the deadliest month for U.S. troops in the eight-year-old war, adding pressure to the administration’s efforts to settle on a new strategy for the war.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/28/AR2009102804567.html