Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Wild new yonder
Air Force Academy graduates keep apart Saturday as they toss their caps into the air and the Thunderbirds fly over in Colorado Springs, Colo. Nearly 1,000 cadets graduated in a scaleddown ceremony that capped a difficult final semester in which the cadets attended virtual classes and ate their meals alone in dorm rooms. Vice President Mike Pence delivered the commencement address in only his second trip outside Washington in the past six weeks.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — In a symbolic nod to normalcy, Vice President Mike Pence delivered a commencement address to the U.S. Air Force Academy’s graduating class on Saturday, telling the cadets that by setting off on their mission to defend the nation they “inspire confidence that we will prevail against the invisible enemy in our time as well.”
Pence’s trip, only his second outside Washington in the past six weeks, was aimed at showing that the country is on course to gradually reopening after weeks of the coronavirus shutdown.
He spoke at a scaled-down ceremony at the academy outside Colorado Springs, Colo., where hundreds of graduating cadets in blue and white dress uniforms sat 8 feet apart, taking up an area nearly as large as a football field.
“I know we gather at a time of great challenge in the life of our nation,” Pence said as he began his remarks. “And while we don’t quite look like the usual graduation at the Air Force Academy, let me tell you, this is an awesome sight. And I wouldn’t be anywhere else but with the 62nd class of the Air Force Academy, the class of 2020.”
The event usually attracts a big crowd to Falcon Stadium, which has a maximum capacity of more than 46,000. President Donald Trump spoke last year. But this year, the pandemic forced the academy to close the ceremony to visitors, including friends and family of the nearly 1,000 graduates.