WEST POINT – As a soft rain fell May 23 at Michie Stadium, 998 West Point cadets raised their right hands and took the oath of office that officially made them second lieutenants in the United States Army.
Before that, they were welcomed by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who delivered this year’s commencement address.
“I bring you greetings from our commander-in-chief, President Donald J. Trump,” Hegseth said as he opened his address.
Hegseth said “there is no higher calling on Planet Earth” than the choice the cadets made to go into the Army.
“You should be my kids’ heroes,” Hegseth said. “I know for a fact that you are mine.”
Hegseth’s address also had some religious overtones, including when he referred to the story in the Old Testament of the Bible where God called the prophet Isaiah.
“God said: Who shall I send? And Isaiah replied: Here I am. Send me.”
“We will be sending you to some foreign lands, perhaps to war,” Hegseth said. “The world is at a crossroads, and this is a time when the stakes could not be higher.”
He only made a brief specific reference to the war in Iran, at another point in the speech.
Hegseth also railed against the “diversity, equity, inclusion” approach to operations, and said it does not belong in the Army. He said the single most embarrassing expression in recent Army history was “our diversity is our strength.”
“We heard generals saying this on television,” Hegseth said. “Diversity is not our strength. Unity is our strength…You are the future. You will restore our Army, and I will empower you to do it.”
“The American people are responding to our back-to-basics approach,” Hegseth added. “The Army just made its 2026 recruiting goals four months early.”
The four years of education and physical and military training that cadets receive at West Point also helps to weed out those who are not up to a military life.
According to West Point, the 998 cadets who graduated this year represent 82% of the 1,209 who entered the military academy four years ago.
Mike Randall covers breaking news for the Times Herald-Record and the Poughkeepsie Journal. Reach him at mrandall@th-record.com.
This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Hegseth calls West Point grads his ‘heroes’ in 2026 graduation speech
Reporting by Mike Randall, Middletown Times Herald- Record / Times Herald-Record
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
