Vice President JD Vance, addressing the Naval Academy’s Class of 2025 on Friday, advised the newest crop of Navy and Marine Corps officers that they were entering a changing military.

After being greeted by protesters who gathered in Annapolis to protest Trump administration policies, Vance told the 1,048 graduates, 786 of whom received Navy assignments and 262 of whom will serve in the Marines, that they would be leading troops against emerging international powers, such as China and Russia, armed with evolving weapons.

(Watch video of VP JD Vance’s Naval Academy speech.)

Touting President Donald Trump’s recent visit to the Middle East as “historic,” Vance spent several minutes speaking about the administration’s foreign policy diverging from its predecessors by moving away from nation-building and prioritizing American interests.

“No more undefined missions. No more open-ended conflicts,” Vance said, vowing that he and Trump would “never ask you to do anything without a clear mission and a clear path home.”

Vance, a Marine veteran, pointed to the military’s airstrikes this spring in Yemen as an example of the type of mission the Trump administration would prioritize. He described the effort as being targeted and limited to a specific goal: to stop Houthi militants from attacking American ships in the Red Sea.

“We pursued that goal through overwhelming force,” Vance said. “That’s how military power should be used: Decisively.”

Vance stayed away from the Trump administration’s controversial effort to purge the military of DEI, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, making no mention of some of the policies that hit close to home at the service academy in Annapolis founded in 1845.

Under Trump, the Naval Academy stopped considering race, ethnicity or sex in admissions. That policy change came shortly after the Justice Department under President Joe Biden defeated a federal lawsuit seeking to prohibit the academy from practicing affirmative action.

Nearly 400 books exploring themes of white supremacy, race and racism in America, gender identity and sexuality and diversity were removed from the academy’s library following an executive order by Trump, who has set out to purge the military of DEI. Most, however, have since been returned to the library’s shelves.

As midshipmen filed into Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium early on an overcast morning, prepared to toss their covers to signify their graduation, several groups advocating for racial justice and LGBTQ+ rights rallied across the street on the grounds of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

The protesters said they were seeking to speak out against Trump’s agenda without detracting from the graduates’ accomplishments. They voiced concerns about deep cuts to social services proposed in Trump’s budget and changes that have hit closer to home at the service academy.

“Hey, hey! Ho, ho! JD Vance has got to go!” they chanted as traffic crawled past. “Show me what diversity looks like! This is what diversity looks like!”

The organizations wrote a letter to the graduating class and distributed it to reporters before Friday’s protest, denouncing Trump’s crusade against illegal immigration, which has seen people deported without court proceedings, and a recent administration decision to accept as refugees five dozen white South Africans under the false pretext of there being “white genocide” there.

“We speak in a collective protest against any messages that will encourage you to rush into the days of yesteryear, where harsh racism, with brutal attacks against people who do not resemble the attackers, are an everyday occurrence. We speak out in harsh protest against messages that seek to divide and conquer,” the organizers wrote.

They said they also opposed mass deportations and “the targeting of DEI and marginalized people, including people from the LGBTQ+ community.”

Inside the stadium, graduating midshipmen chatted among classmates, snapping photos to commemorate the occasion, before lining up in 36 companies and filing onto the field.

Several midshipmen described graduation as surreal, reminiscing on four challenging years at the academy while looking forward to their roles as military leaders.

Political science major Lucas Merritt, 23, who is going into the Marine Corps, said it was eye-opening to attend the academy, given his origin in the small town of Perry, Georgia.

“After today, I’m a commissioned officer in the greatest fighting force. There’s a little bit of nerves,” said Merritt, who studied political science, later adding, “I feel ready.”

Houston native Rebecca Wiley, 21, echoed Merritt’s thoughts.

“Our sailors and Marines’ lives are literally in our hands,” said Wiley, who will work on submarines in Charleston, South Carolina, after studying naval architecture and mechanical engineering. “I’m nervous to do a good job, but that just shows that I care.”

Joseph Lee, a 22-year-old from Pittsburg, Kansas who studied chemistry and is going to medical school after graduation, described the academy as “not the easiest place to go to school.”

Graduation, he said, was a special moment shared by midshipmen who hail “from all over the world.”

“I’m just ready to graduate and throw my hat in the air,” Lee said.

Sunshine broke through the clouds as the commencement ceremony got underway, with the graduates seated in the middle of the field facing the stage where Vance and top Navy leaders sat. Family and friends filled the stands.

Vance touched on his own military service, at one point offering “one piece of advice from a former junior enlisted guy to a bunch of new officers.”

With Memorial Day a few days away, he said, he thinks about Maj. Megan McClung, a 1995 academy graduate who was the first female Marine officer killed in the Iraq war.

“She was an officer I served with, who was bright, tough, and incredibly dedicated to her job. She arrived in Iraq not long after me, and was killed in action not long after that. She loved this institution. And like so many that came before her, she built on its legacy in the way that she served her country,” the vice president said.

Vance credited graduates for having “made it now through one of the most demanding institutions in the entire world” and stepping up “in a moment where your country needs you now more than ever.”

“I’m sure some of you share my politics and some of you don’t,” Vance said, “but I know today I speak for a grateful nation when I say ‘We are rooting for you, Naval Academy Class of 2025, we are proud of you and we depend on you. Congratulations. Godspeed’”

Vance’s speech was met with enthusiastic applause.

Once Vance finished, the graduates raised their right hands and swore to protect the Constitution as they were officially commissioned, letting out a thunderous “I do” when the oath was finished.

New officers, the graduates formed a line and, one at at time, walked up to the stage to shake Vance’s hand and receive their diploma.

Then, in unison, they threw their caps into the air and rejoiced.