Biden charges USNA grads to defend country, allies
President Joe Biden urged the Naval Academy’s Class of 2022 to protect NATO allies and the Indo-Pacific region in a rousing graduation speech that began with a series of inside jokes and ended with a grave sense of global foreboding.
Although there was no Blue Angels flyover due to misty rain and impending storms, there was still plenty of post-pandemic pomp and circumstance Friday morning at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium. Biden’s attendance meant long lines for security checks while Secret Service agents confiscated hundreds of umbrellas before the presidential motorcade arrived in Annapolis.
Following a 21-gun salute, the president opened with a surprise anecdote about his own near attendance at the Naval Academy.
“In 1965, I was appointed by the same senator I ran against in 1972,” Biden said. The reason he gave for not attending? “I wanted to be a football star,” he said. And Navy already had a few stars, including a guy named Roger Staubach.
“So I went to Delaware instead,” Biden said.
Despite turning down his chance to become a midshipman, the Commander in
Chief delivered such a detailed insider-speech, you’d think either the president or his speech writer had been spending significant time hanging out at the Dry Dock Cafe.
References to the “Red Beach Massacre” and an escapade involving throwing printers from the balconies of Bancroft Hall elicited guffaws. (“They’re pranks,” explained one midshipman, who declined to elaborate but said the president had received accurate intelligence.) No matter now.
“As your Commander in Chief, I hereby forgive all your minor infractions. You are absolved,” said Biden, who mumbled about some minor infractions of his own.
The loudest applause of the whole day went to Sarah Skinner, captain of the women’s rugby team who was recently named a Rhodes scholar. Skinner led the club squad to its first national title and is on track to make the Olympic team in 2024.
“I can’t wait to see you, kid!” the president exclaimed, noting that he played intramural rugby himself while a student at Syracuse University then acknowledged, “I probably should have spent more time on law school.”
But soon Biden shifted out of his folksy-uncle mode to the leader of a country focused on Russia aggression. Before his recent trip to Asia, Biden noted he received calls from the leaders of Sweden andFinland, asking if he would support their bids to join NATO.
After Russia invaded Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin assumed all of Europe would remain neutral, Biden said. “Instead, he NATO-ized all of Europe.”
With Russian ships trolling the Baltic Sea, the NATO expansion could have serious repercussions for the graduates. As officers in the Navy and Marine Corps, Biden reminded the mids they are now charged with “working together with allies and partners to amplify our strength” and “preserve stability in an uncertain world.”
Those uncertainties also extend far eastward. The president made multiple references to the Indo-Pacific region, the focus of his recent overseas trip, during which he pledged to defend Taiwan against potential Chinese military aggression, anapparentreversalofprevious policy with direct implications for the graduates.
“You will defend the international rules of the road and underwrite the future of the Indo-Pacific that is free and open, and ensure freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.”
For the graduates, the presidential address capped off four years of unprecedented study at the academy.
Speaking before the ceremony, midshipman Joshua Murrell of Forest Hill recalled a roller coaster four years.
“It’s started normal, it ended normal, but in between, it was all over the place,” he said.
Murrell speculated, however, that the tumultuous reign of COVID-19 protocols may leave him better prepared for military service.
“That’s what I think we’re going to experience, once we do get out into fleets and into our Navy and Marine Corps jobs,” he said. “A lot of stuff will be going on, we know what it’s supposed to be like, find a way to make it happen, even under unique circumstances.”
For now, he heads to graduate school in Monterey, California, postponing deployment for a few more years. Sitting four seats down from him in the 27th Company chairs was Carolyn Mang, also of Forest Hill. The two midshipman attended different high schools but grew up 10 minutes apart. They’ve remained friends, even as she heads off to Quantico to further her training as a Marine.
Both had their full allotment of 25 friends and family members in the stands for Biden’s speech and the traditional cap toss. Covers were launched a loft a bit early. A public address announcer warned attendees to exit quickly once a storm was just 12 miles from Annapolis.
The rain held off long enough, however, that the ceremony included everything except the class president’s speech. The real president got his full 20 minutes.
Given that her tenure at the academy was full of “COVID disruptions,” Mang was grateful for normalcy, and a moment in national spotlight.
“One of the unique things about being in the military is that we have to be a bit more apolitical in some situations,” she said. “We can’t always express our opinions maybe as much as we would want to. But I think having the president here is so amazing. I mean, how many people get to have the president speak at their graduation and get to go up and shake his hand? Like, that’s so cool. Regardless of what you believe, politically, I think most people are pretty excited to have him here today.”