What some LIers want to hear in Obama's speech

"We need him to address jobs and education for the returning soldiers. This is about their future, coming back and having families and jobs. They've given to America and now they need to be able come back and have real lives. Obama needs to talk about that because these are kids with pride and courage and devotion."

Janene Gentile, 57, Miller Place, whose son, Cpl. Robert Schilling, served as a Marine reservist in Iraq in 2004 and 2005.

"I'd like to hear more about whether this is really the end. It doesn't seem like it when you leave 50,000 troops there and American bases. He needs to tell us what post-combat Iraq will look like and what the United State's role will be and what reconstruction will happen. There's a great deal of infrastructure work that needs to be done in the country."

Margaret Melkonian, 63, of Uniondale, executive director of the Long Island Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives.

"He has to maintain his commitment to the soldiers he's leaving over there. With the Iraqi military the way it is, he can't just pull everyone out because it would be totally chaotic. He has to talk about what he has promised, a slow withdrawal that eventually brings everyone home safely. But I'm very happy to hear the combat operations are coming out of there. It's been a long road."

Sgt. Stanford Mendenhall, 48, former Huntington resident and member of the Fighting 69th Infantry Regiment in Bay Shore who served in Iraq in 2004 and 2005.

"What I would want to hear from the president would be that he'll do what's best for the troops and the country, not necessarily what's best for the Democratic Party to win another election. That's for both sides, too, Republicans, too. That if this country could be run like it was on 9/12, 2001, when it doesn't matter what party you're in, that's truly what I would like to hear from him more than anything else."

Timothy Scherer, 51, East Northport, whose son, Marine Cpl. Christopher Scherer, was killed in Iraq in 2007.