Biden to graduating mids: You will prevail - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Biden to graduating mids: You will prevail

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Vice President Joe Biden on Friday warned the members of the graduating class of the Naval Academy that they are entering a dangerous, unfamiliar, unpredictable world, but he reminded them that their predecessors had too, and in every case they had risen to the tasks at hand.

“Who among you will be mentioned by the graduating speaker of 2050, or 2070? I ask that question with all seriousness. I mean it. Some among you will. You will be — those of you who excel beyond all others, who continue to be the inspiration for future generations,” he said.

On an unseasonably cool, overcast morning, Biden told the Navy’s newest ensigns and the Marine Corps’s newest second lieutenants that they were entering a fraternity as old as the Naval Academy itself, of sea service leaders who, like them, entered a world of danger “the moment they stepped off this stage.”

“Two wars; terrorism; pandemic disease; the economic dislocation between the rich and poor; ethic animosities; a rapidly warming planet; an uncertain supply of energy, food and water; the spread of radical fundamentalism,” are what the new officers can expect, Biden said. “These challenges are real, but every generation has faced challenges, and just like those who came before you, you will prevail. But also like those who came before us, we need a strategy to succeed.”

That plan is the National Security Strategy, Biden said, unveiled May 27 by President Obama. It stresses that the key for the endurance of American power is economic prosperity, and, as has become common in other Pentagon planning documents, it emphasizes a blend of military and “soft” power around the world. The Naval Academy Class of 2010 can expect the Obama strategy to be a fixture in their careers, Biden said.

Other speakers at the Naval Academy commencement included Undersecretary of the Navy Robert Work, who welcomed the new officers into what he called “the best damn Navy and Marine Corps” in the world. Biden followed Work, and the vice president began with a wry tip.

“The undersecretary made some great remarks but one word of advice — watch your language in front of a microphone.”

See the full list of 2010 graduates