NATIONAL BRIEFING / NEW YORK
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates praised West Point’s graduating class for joining the military in “a dangerous new century.”
Gates noted that the 970 members of the U.S. Military Academy’s class of 2009 prepared their West Point applications in late 2004, as American forces were battling fiercely in Fallouja, Iraq.
“You made your decision to serve knowing not only that America was at war, as did every man or woman who joined the military after Sept. 11, but that this war would be bloody and difficult, of indefinite length and uncertain outcome,” Gates said. “In doing so, you showed courage, commitment and patriotism.”
Most of the graduates become second lieutenants in the U.S. Army and are expected to serve eventually in Iraq or Afghanistan.
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