May 23 (UPI) — Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday addressed the 1,048 graduates of the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., telling them, “Your country needs you now more than ever.”
During the ceremony, Marine 2 circled Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, and there was Blue Angels flyover.
During the ceremony, Vance, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps and was deployed to the Iraq War, watched as 786 men and women received Navy assignments and 262 went to graduates who now will serve in the Marines.
On a sunny day, the graduates raised their right hands and swore to protect the Constitution as they were officially commissioned. In unison, they shouted “I do” when the oath was finished.
They walked up to the stage to shake Vance’s hand and receive their diploma.
Divided into 36 companies, they later tossed caps into the air, a Naval tradition.
“It will be you, the graduates gathered here today, who will lead the way for the rest of us,” Vance said. “Your service will bring new challenges and environments, including ones unfamiliar even to those who served before you. You will deploy new equipment, new systems, and new technology. And, through those experiences, it is you who will learn, who will teach others and will help our services and our entire country adapt to the future we’re confronting.”
This was Vance’s first remarks to service academy’s graduates as vice president.
“The extraordinary education you received is an investment by the American people, an investment not only in your courage, but in the strength of your minds and the promise of your leadership because your nation rests easier knowing that we have the most brilliant strategists and tacticians standing guard,” Vance added.
Vance noted that they would be leading troops in regions with military powers, including China and Russia.
To the graduates, guests and military personnel, he touted the Trump administration’s policies.
He described President Donald Trump‘s visit last week to the Middle East as “historic.”
Vance told the crowd how his administration’s foreign policy is different from predecessors by moving away from nation-building and prioritizing American interests.
“No more undefined missions. No more open-ended conflicts,” Vance said.
He voted that Trump and himself would “never ask you to do anything without a clear mission and a clear path home.”
The vice president described the military’s targeted and limited airstrikes this spring against the Houthis in Yemen as the type of mission the Trump administration would prioritize. The goal was to stop Houthi militants from attacking American ships in the Red Sea.
“We pursued that goal through overwhelming force,” Vance said. “That’s how military power should be used: Decisively.”
Earlier he was greeted by demonstrators protesting the Trump administration’s policies
Several groups advocating for racial justice and LGBTQ+ rights rallied across the street on the grounds of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. From a distance, they protested deep cuts to social services in the proposed budget.
The Naval Academy stopped considering race, ethnicity or sex in admissions. Nearly 400 books exploring White supremacy, race and racism in America; gender identity; and sexuality and diversity were removed from the academy’s library after an executive order by Trump. Many have since been returned to the library’s shelves.
“I’m sure some of you share my politics and some of you don’t,” Vance said, “but I know today I speak for a grateful nation when I say, ‘We are rooting for you, Naval Academy Class of 2025, we are proud of you and we depend on you. Congratulations. Godspeed.’ “
The U.S. Naval Academy’s Class of 2025 includes 751 men and 298 women from all 50 states. Fourteen international students from 13 countries will return home to serve in their respective armed forces. The class began with 1,186 candidates: 838 men and 348 women.
Midshipmen said the graduation of four challenging years at the academy was surreal.
“After today, I’m a commissioned officer in the greatest fighting force. There’s a little bit of nerves,” political science major Lucas Merritt, 23, of Georgia, who is going into the Marine Corps, told The Baltimore Banner. “I feel ready.”
“Our sailors and Marines’ lives are literally in our hands,” Rebecca Wiley, 21, of Houston, who will work on submarines in Charleston, S.C., said after studying naval architecture and mechanical engineering. “I’m nervous to do a good job, but that just shows that I care.”
Joseph Lee, a 22-year-old from Kansas, studied chemistry and will go to medical school.
They will join approximately 92,000 Naval Academy alumni who have graduated since 1845.
