Class of 2018 Joins the Long Gray Line

May 30, 2018

USMA_2018 graduation — Members of the West Point Class of 2018 Saturday received their diplomas and were commissioned as second lieutenants in the US Army.

WEST POINT – The 950 members of the Class of 2018 joined the Long Gray Line at the US Military Academy as they graduated as commissioned second lieutenants on Saturday.

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford, Jr. told the graduates, “You chose to join the Army in the time of war,” and he said their leadership in the ever changing face of the military has never been more important.

“To the Class of 2018, I believe the need to aggressively lead change is going to be particularly important to you,” he said. “The pace of change and the speed of war has greatly accelerated and in many ways the environment you are going to lead in is very different than the one that confronted lieutenants in 1918, in 1968 or frankly, in 2008.”

Dunford’s message to the graduates was, “If you take care of your soldiers, they will take care of you.”