Mike Pence Tells West Point Graduates They Should Expect to See Combat

Vice President Mike Pence told the graduating class of West Point Military Academy on Saturday that they should expect to see combat during their careers. “It is a virtual certainty that you will fight on a battlefield for America at some point in your life,” Pence said during his first commencement address at the academy. “You will lead soldiers in combat. It will happen. Some of you may even be called upon to serve in this hemisphere.” The statement comes a day after the Trump administration announced plans to send another 1,500 troops to the Middle East amid rising tensions with Iran. Pence told the more than 980 graduating cadets that some of them would join the “fight against radical Islamic terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq,” which will be aided by the president's proposed $750 billion defense budget for 2020. “(The United States) is once again embracing our role as the leader of the free world,” Pence said.