Vice President JD Vance spoke to Marines on Saturday during a celebration at Camp Pendleton in California in the lead-up to the Marine Corps 250th anniversary on November 10.
The vice president, along with second lady Usha Vance, joined Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Secretary of the Navy John Phelan, where the vice president and second lady inspected a showcase of amphibious capabilities to kick off the event.
After the demonstration, JD Vance, Hegseth, and Phelan delivered remarks to the Marines at Camp Pendleton.
“We know that the work you do, protecting our country, putting your lives on the line to defend our way of life, is at the heart of Marine Corps service,” Vance said.
He emphasized that “common purpose” is the strength of the Marine Corps and America’s armed forces rather than diversity.
“Now, we recognize that it is not our diversity that makes us stronger. It is our common purpose, it is our common mission, and it is the fact that every single person here bleeds Marine Corps green,” Vance said.
Vance said that “diversity quotas” and “partisan politics” hamper the Marine Corps “ability to do its best work.”
“That’s why the Secretary of War and the President of the United States have stood so firmly against that crap, because when you can’t operate at your best on the battlefield, it puts everybody’s lives at risk,” Vance stated.
“And it’s why we’re recentering the focus of all of our military, including the Marine Corps, on those timeless values of discipline, readiness, and faith, and one another,” he added.
The vice president, who served in the Marine Corps, reflected glowingly on his time in the service and shared the story of his recruitment.
“My service in the Marine Corps was a huge part of my life. I would not be here today. I would not be the Vice President of the United States, I would not be the man I am today, were it not for those four years that I served in the Marine Corps,” Vance said.
While Vance said he was initially “terrified of the prospect of becoming a Marine,” his cousin Rachel encouraged him to speak with a recruiter.
“I will never forget that conversation, because at no point did [the recruiter] try to sell me on the United States Marine Corps. He warned me, he said, ‘You don’t enlist in the Marine Corps to make money.’ And you all know that’s exactly right. He said, ‘you might even go to war,'” Vance said.
“This was back in 2003 right after we invaded Iraq. But what he did tell me is that enlisting in the Marines would teach me many things, including discipline and the virtue of leadership. And that was appealing to me,” he continued.
“But over the days that followed, what further dawned on me was that I needed to do this, not just for me, but for the nation. My country needed me just as sure as the country needs each and every one of you today,” the vice president added.
As Vance’s remarks concluded, “Take Me Higher” by Creed began to play as helicopters flew over the camp.
In the lead-up to the event, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and his press office peddled an anonymously sourced report that the Trump administration planned to shut down the I-5 highway for the demonstration, which the Marine Corps refuted.
Newsom ultimately ordered a closure of the I-5 on Saturday, with the New York Times citing a patrol report of fragments falling onto an on-ramp to the highway after “a 155-millimeter shell fired during a live-fire demonstration for the 250th anniversary of the Marine Corps at Camp Pendleton on Saturday prematurely detonated.” No one was injured, per the Times.
“The governor had objected to the plan to fire over the freeway, Interstate 5, and ordered a 17-mile stretch closed — against the guidance of military officials, who had said it was safe for it to remain open,” according to the Times.
“We are committed to determining the incident’s root cause and applying findings to future missions,” Lt. Col. Lindsay Pirek, a First Marine Expeditionary Force spokeswoman at Camp Pendleton, said in a statement to the outlet.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.