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In nod to normalcy, Pence celebrates Air Force Academy grads

The class of 2020 toss their caps into the air as the Thunderbirds fly over Saturday, April 18, 2020, at the conclusion of the Air Force Academy graduation in Colorado Springs, Colo. Nearly 1,000 cadets graduated in a scaled-down ceremony due to the coronavirus pandemic. Saturday's commencement was attended by Vice President Mike Pence and capped a difficult final semester in which the cadets attended virtual classes and ate their meals alone in dorm rooms. (Christian Murdock/The Gazette via AP)
The class of 2020 toss their caps into the air as the Thunderbirds fly over Saturday, April 18, 2020, at the conclusion of the Air Force Academy graduation in Colorado Springs, Colo. Nearly 1,000 cadets graduated in a scaled-down ceremony due to the coronavirus pandemic. Saturday's commencement was attended by Vice President Mike Pence and capped a difficult final semester in which the cadets attended virtual classes and ate their meals alone in dorm rooms. (Christian Murdock/The Gazette via AP) The class of 2020 toss their caps into the air as the Thunderbirds fly over Saturday, April 18, 2020, at the conclusion of the Air Force Academy graduation in Colorado Springs, Colo. Nearly 1,000 cadets graduated in a scaled-down ceremony due to the coronavirus pandemic. Saturday's commencement was attended by Vice President Mike Pence and capped a difficult final semester in which the cadets attended virtual classes and ate their meals alone in dorm rooms. (Christian Murdock/The Gazette via AP)

By ZEKE MILLER and JILL COLVIN / Associated Press 5 min read

AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AP) – In a symbolic nod to normalcy, Vice President Mike Pence delivered a commencement address to the U.S. Air Force Academy’s graduating class on Saturday, telling the cadets that by setting off on their mission to defend the nation they “inspire confidence that we will prevail against the invisible enemy in our time as well.”

Pence’s trip, only his second outside Washington in the last six weeks, was aimed at showing that the country is on course to gradually reopening after weeks of the coronavirus shutdown.

He spoke at a scaled-down ceremony at the academy outside Colorado Springs, where hundreds of graduating cadets in blue and white dress uniforms sat eight feet apart, taking up an area nearly as large as a football field.

“I know we gather at a time of great challenge in the life of our nation,” Pence said as he began his remarks. “And while we don’t quite look like the usual graduation at the Air Force Academy, let me tell you, this is an awesome sight. And I wouldn’t be anywhere else but with the 62nd class of the Air Force Academy, the class of 2020.”

The event usually attracts a big crowd to Falcon Stadium, which has a maximum capacity of more than 46,000. President Donald Trump spoke last year. But this year, the pandemic forced the academy to close the ceremony to visitors, including friends and family of the nearly 1,000 graduates.