Anti-interventionist JD Vance has delivered a stark warning to graduating military cadets, urging them to prepare for a world where war is increasingly unpredictable and potentially shaped by conflict in the Middle East.
He told graduates during his commencement speech at the U.S. Air Force Academy on Thursday not to let “a--holes” stop them from their mission.
The speech marked a notable shift in tone from the vice president, who last year used a commencement address at the Naval Academy to argue against “open-ended conflicts” and foreign entanglements.
This year, as Donald Trump’s conflict in Iran enters its third month, Vance encouraged air force grads to “focus on the fight and focus on winning.”
“No plan survives first contact with the enemy,” he told them.
“People like predictability. We like systems, and routines and plans... but then something crazy happens. It’s called reality. Adversaries surprise you, 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 even if it’s 3 in the morning.
“And members of the class of 2026, you are graduating into one of those eras where that reality, that unpredictability of warfare, is becoming impossible to ignore.”
The speech was a balancing act for the vice president, who served in the Marines and whose political reputation was built on his opposition to foreign intervention.
It also stood in stark contrast to the commencement address at the US Naval Academy one year ago, when Vance insisted that the Trump administration had ended a decades-long approach to foreign policy by no longer meddling in other countries’ affairs.
“No more undefined missions,” he told graduates at the time.
“No more open-ended conflicts. That’s how military power should be used: decisively with a clear objective.”
But Trump has since come under fire for a lack of a clear objective in Iran.
He has also been consumed by overseas crises despite his long-standing promises to avoid new foreign wars. Since returning to office, he has overseen military confrontations tied to Iran, expanded operations in the Middle East, intervened in Venezuela, considered taking over Cuba, pushed for America to seize Greenland and suggested that Canada should become the 51st state of the U.S.
The president also sparked more controversy this week by threatening to bomb Oman amid tensions over shipping lanes and the Strait of Hormuz.
In his speech, Vance told the group that “when the president says he will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon, it is the men and women you will join in just 60 days who give force to that promise and to that guarantee.
The vice president also revealed new details about the administration’s reaction during a recent military operation involving Iran, describing panic inside a secure conference room after officials temporarily lost contact with an American pilot.
He said Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine informed him and President Donald Trump that the mission had hit “a bit of a snag,” prompting officials to anxiously look around the room wondering what would happen next.
Vance also focused heavily on artificial intelligence - an issue that has resulted in some commencement speakers being booed at other ceremonies across the country.
“You can’t boo me, I’m the vice president,” he joked.
He then referenced Pope Leo XIV, who “encouraged us as human beings not to outsource the most important moral decisions to digital technology.
“I want to endorse that sentiment and make it more specific to each and every one of you,” Vance said.
“Decisions over life and death must be made by humans and not machines.”
