Vance says Trump will use US military decisively rather than in 'open-ended conflicts' of the past

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Vice President JD Vance told military academy graduates Friday that President Donald Trump is working to ensure that U.S. armed forces are only sent into harm's way with clear goals rather than the ''undefined missions'' and ''open-ended conflicts'' of the past.

Vance, in a commencement address at the U.S. Naval Academy, said Trump's approach ''doesn't mean that we ignore threats but means that we approach them with discipline and if we send you to war, we do it with a very specific set of goals in mind.''

Vance said the alternative under Trump will be quicker-hit military actions, pointing to the bombing that Trump recently ordered -- then paused to uncertain effect-- against Houthis rebels in Yemen.

''That's how miliary power should be used," he said. ''Decisively with a clear objective."

Vance, in his first remarks as vice president to one of the military service academies, also spoke briefly about his own military service as he addressed the 1,049 graduates in Annapolis' class of 2025, most of them newly commissioned ensigns and second lieutenants.

The Ohio native enlisted in the Marine Corps after high school and served four years, doing a tour in Iraq and working as a military journalist.

Vance appeared to criticize the Iraq War as he spoke of Trump's shift in approach, seeming to refer to the mission he served in when he said: ''How hard could it be to build a few democracies in the Middle East? Well, almost impossibly hard, it turns out. And unbelievably costly.''

Vance also criticized a Biden administration effort to build a pier in Gaza to accept aid in Israel's war with Hamas there, which he suggested never worked.

''The Trump administration has reversed course," Vance said. "No more undefined missions. No more open-ended conflicts.''

He added, ''We ought to be cautious in deciding to throw a punch, but when we throw a punch, we throw a punch hard, and we do it decisively. And that's exactly what we may ask you to do.''

Looking ahead to Memorial Day, the vice president noted ''it is not a happy day'' and is ''not for those who served and came home. It is for those who served and didn't.''

''Every Memorial Day, I think about a graduate of this institution, Major Megan McClung,'' Vance said. ''She was an officer I served with who was bright, tough and incredibly dedicated to her job.'' He said McClung arrived in Iraq not long before he did and was killed not long after that.

''She loved this institution,'' Vance said. ''And, like so many who came before her, she built on its legacy in the way that she served her country.''

McClung, 34, was a military relations officer who was killed by a roadside bomb in Ramadi in December 2006. She was the first female Marine officer to be killed in the U.S.-led war in Iraq and the first female Naval Academy graduate killed in action.

Vance served in the Marines and when he was named Trump's running mate last year, he became the first veteran to serve on a major party presidential ticket since John McCain in 2008. Former President George W. Bush, who left office in 2009, was the last sitting president who had served in the military.

The president and vice president traditionally speak at one of the military service academies every year. Trump is scheduled to speak at West Point's commencement Saturday.

Lillian Huong, a 22-year-old from Sacramento, California, who became a new second lieutenant in the Marines, took note of the vice president's military service and said in advance of his remarks she was looking for ''some good leadership advice.''

''It's an honor to hear him speak and be a part of the same community as him,'' she said.

Some of the students were focused on the huge day in their lives.

''It's just an exciting day regardless of who the speaker is,'' said Sierra Paoli, a 25-year-old from Los Angeles. Paoli said it was her childhood dream and the dream of her late father that she graduate from the Naval Academy, where she enrolled more than three years after she enlisted in the Navy.

''I think my family is just excited to see this whole thing,'' she said.

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Associated Press writer Will Weissert in Washington contributed to this report.