CONTACT:
FEEDBACK@WEST-POINT.ORG
Provide us the link, and we’ll quickly review the situation!
‘Historic’ Air Force graduation ceremony goes off with masks and social distancing
As nearly 1,000 Air Force Academy cadets took part in their socially distanced graduation ceremony Saturday, swearing an oath to the United States, wearing face masks before and after, separated at all times by at least 6 feet and without family and friends there to cheer them on.
This year, in a historic first prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Air Force Academy Graduation went virtual.
Families said watching graduation on a computer screen is not exactly how they envisioned celebrating the completion of four years of hard work. But they’re taking it all in stride.
The Carlisi family had been looking forward to a big gathering in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with 22 family members and guests from at least five states planning to attend before the pandemic struck.
“We rented a couple of houses, and we had some big parties planned and lots of family coming in, and it was going to be exciting,” Alison Carlisi told ABC News. “And, yeah. It’s different now.”
Trump says he’ll deliver West Point commencement address – amid social distancing
President Trump said Friday he intends to deliver the commencement address this year at the U.S. Military Academy, according to reports.
The graduation ceremony is scheduled for May 23 at the academy in West Point, N.Y., though whether that date will hold was uncertain because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Nevertheless, the president said social distancing practices will be in place when the event is held.
“They’ll have some big distance, so it will be very different than it ever looked,” the president said, according to The Hill. “Do I like the look? No, I don’t. And eventually, next year, they’ll have a commencement like it’s been.”
For second week, about 1,000 new coronavirus cases among troops
Nearly 3,000 service members have been diagnosed with COVID-19, according to the Defense Department’s latest data, with about 2,300 cases still active and almost 1,000 new cases added in each of the last two weeks.
With 2,986 cases among troops, the military’s infection rate now stands at 1,421-per-million, or 0.14 percent. That’s compared to the overall U.S. rate of 1,932-per-million, or 0.2 percent.
The Navy saw its cases rise above 1,000 this week, hitting 1,017 on Friday. Much of that surge has come from 100-percent testing aboard the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, which has been pierside in Guam for nearly two weeks following an outbreak.
Of 4,800 sailors on board, about 4,500 had been tested as of Friday morning. Of 660 positive tests, more than half have come from asymptomatic sailors, senior Pentagon leadership confirmed this week.
New Arctic Tab comes with a Ranger Tab spin to show importance of cold-weather fighting
The Army upgraded the design of its Arctic Tab and issued new guidance for wearing the accoutrement as the Defense Department increasingly looks to bolster its cold-weather warfare capabilities.
While the move may seem small, it comes during a time of increased competition for resources in the Arctic region with Russian, and even China. As sea ice increasingly recedes, new economic opportunities emerge, but so does competition.
The Arctic Tab was originally worn below a soldier’s unit patch and could only be worn while assigned to Army Alaska, a subordinate command to Army Pacific and the ground force defending much of the U.S. territorial claims near the Arctic region.
Now, the redesigned tab is worn above the unit patch like the Ranger and Sapper tabs. It can also be worn by those serving at all Army Pacific installations throughout that command’s area of operations.