Defense secretary tells Navy graduates they’re able to serve

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin advised newly commissioned officers on the U.S. Naval Academy on Friday that they’re able to “defend our democracy with honor, courage and commitment.”

Austin, talking through the ceremony on the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium after President Joe Biden addressed graduates final yr and Vice President Kamala Harris delivered remarks in 2021, acknowledged the Navy’s function in coaching allies, serving to develop Ukraine’s maritime capabilities in its struggle in opposition to Russian invasion and bringing aid to worldwide battle zones.

“Class of 2023, wherever your career takes you, remind the world of what you stand for – and what America stands for: Honor. Courage. And commitment. Democracy. Liberty. And the rule of law,” Austin advised 1,018 graduates on the academy’s commissioning ceremony.

The secretary mentioned naval officers have a particular understanding of the ability of teamwork, and “we need that spirit for the crucial mission that you’re all here to shoulder.”

Austin mentioned U.S. Marines are coaching alongside allies in Japan and the Philippines to strengthen deterrence within the Indo-Pacific. He additionally mentioned the Navy is driving ahead the AUKUS partnership with Australia and the U.Ok.

In Europe, he mentioned, U.S. sailors are working shoulder-to-shoulder with NATO allies.

PHOTOS: Defense secretary tells Navy graduates they’re able to serve

He advised the graduating class that their management can be on the heart of American efforts for a extra peaceable future.

“Our competitors openly challenge that vision,” he mentioned. “They want to replace the hard-won postwar system of rules and rights with a lawless world of autocracy and aggression. But the American flag atop a U.S. Navy ship has long been the symbol of hope for a more free and secure world.”

The secretary famous that the category rose to the problem of the COVID-19 pandemic of their first yr on the academy.

“It separated you from your classmates as you were just starting to feel like a family, but you hung in there,” Austin mentioned. “You took care of each other.”