Vice President JD Vance highlights patience, future challenges for Air Force Academy graduates

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) - On Thursday morning, Vice President JD Vance joked about the day’s cloudy weather and exhorted U.S. Air Force Academy graduates to learn from the teachers and loved ones that showed them “patience and grace” they didn’t deserve.

He highlighted the choice of a new graduate for a summer internship in his office, asking cadet to raise a hand and joking “consider this your first meeting with the new boss, congratulations. Don’t screw it up.”

He addressed families of graduates directly, saying “We will never forget that the nation’s airmen and guardians were your sons and daughters long before they were ours... The administration will always have your back just as these new officers have ours.”

Vance highlighted the shifting challenges that new graduates will face, including the establishment of the Space Force in recent years. He said it is important for graduates to remain flexible.

“Adversaries surprise you,” he said. “Your plan falls through overnight. Some asshole cuts you off in the middle of an operation and makes your blood pressure skyrocket, but you can’t panic and you can’t overreact.”

Another change- technology that reshapes the future, including artificial intelligence. The Vice President said skills that seem hypothetical will become very real.

“Many of you will hold jobs that would have sounded like science fiction to graduates of this academy even 20 years ago,” said Vance.

“As AI transforms the battlefield, in some ways positively, in some ways not, I ask that you be jealous and selfish about your role as a decision maker in warfare,” said Vance. “Use technology to make you better, but never submit to it. You are the masters of warfare. And both your minds, but also your hearts, are the opposite of artificial.”

He also highlighted the Golden Dome as part of that focus on the future, as well as the Trump administration’s focus on increased military spending.

Vance ended by telling the graduates “I’m proud of you, I love you, and I’ll be rooting for you every single step of the way.”