On Wednesday, at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Marines from Virginia came face-to-face with Vice President JD Vance, the first Marine vice president in history. Twenty years ago, he was just like them: young and often unprepared for what awaited at the base.
They arrived from various parts of the country and are from different races and backgrounds. They have put their differing beliefs aside to stand shoulder-to-shoulder and serve their country.
“You all know how big of a part the Marine Corps was in my life and how important it was for me,” he told the gathered troops, flanked by an American flag and a United States Marine Corps flag. “And I just wanted to say, from the bottom of my heart, from one Marine to another, thank you for your service. We’re proud of you, and I’m proud to be here with my fellow Marines. God bless you guys.”
When Marine Two’s wheels touched down at Quantico at 1:22 p.m., Vance greeted Col. Scott W. Warman, commanding officer of Marine Corps Air Facility Quantico, and Col. Jenny A. Colegate, commanding officer of Marine Corps Base Quantico. He waved to several hundred Marines gathered to greet him.
Nestled between the Potomac River and the Appalachian Mountains, Quantico is just 36 miles from Washington. Its sleepy existence as a quaint tourist town was changed forever in 1917 when the U.S. declared war on Germany and entered World War I. The commandant of the Marine Corps and the board he established found the land that surrounded the town would be suitable for Marine training.
The land was leased, and the town became the only one within a military installation — and it remains so today.
Vance’s arrival was significant for these service members because, while dozens of vice presidents in U.S. history have served in the military, not one was a Marine.
Vance said that under President Donald Trump’s leadership, a simple principle guides them: “We don’t care who you are, where you came from, or what skin color you are. We care about excellence and patriotism.”
Vance stressed that if you are a patriotic young Marine, the Trump administration will do everything it can every single day to make the Marine Corps the most lethal fighting force the world has ever seen.
“No more quotas, no more ridiculous mumbo jumbo, no more diversity trainings. We believe the real strength in the real diversity in the United States Marine Corps is that you all come from every walk of life, come from every corner of America, and you have got the strength and the purpose to win the nation’s wars. And that is what the Marine Corps is going to do.”
Military recruitment overall hit the “toughest recruitment year for the Military Services since the inception of the All-volunteer Force,” according to the Department of Defense in 2023. The U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force all fell well short of their recruitment goals. Only the Marine Corps and U.S. Space Force met and exceeded their recruitment goals.
In fiscal 2024, which ended in September of last year, it was only after the Army lowered the quota by 10,000 that it hit its recruitment goal.
There have been multiple factors that have led to the drop in recruits: unfitness to serve, low unemployment, the optics and consequences of the chaotic and deadly withdrawal from Afghanistan ordered by then-President Joe Biden in August 2021, and military education that instructs members about “implicit bias” and other elements of DEI.
In 2023, the Pentagon received $86.5 million for DEI programs, up from $68 million in 2022. That number almost doubled in 2024 when the Pentagon increased its DEI program funding to $114.7 million.
All of those factors helped swing military voters significantly toward Trump heading into 2024. A Pew Research Center survey done a few weeks ahead of the election showed that 6 in 10 registered voters who served in the U.S. military or military reserves supported Trump in the 2024 presidential election, with 37% backing then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
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After his speech, Vance went to the mess hall to meet with three Marines: Sgt. Kaitlyn M. Cubias, an aircraft rescue firefighter, Lance Cpl. Peter C. Beers of Maryland, who was named Marine of the Year, and Cpl. Dominick Blades, who, on Christmas Eve last year, observed a multi-vehicle crash on I-95 while off duty. He ran toward the scene and began triaging the injured occupants of the vehicles. He was awarded a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal for his selfless actions.
Vance, who served as a Marine in Iraq, showed his weapons skills had not changed in the years since. He fired three different guns — an M27, M107, and an M240B — and an inert Howitzer at a gun range.