President Trump has a way of drawing crowds, and the Army would hate to renege on the president’s plan to speak at the U.S. Military Academy’s commencement June 13.
“The president had accepted the invitation to speak at the academy, back — I believe it was in February,” Army Sec. Ryan McCarthy told Pentagon reporters Thursday.
“We were looking at specifically of how the trend was in the state of New York and then ultimately was the curve flattening and how were we in a place with much-reduced risk of bringing them back to the academy,” he said of the thinking behind moving forward with graduation at the West Point campus 50 miles north of New York City.
Absent containment of the coronavirus in New York State, the Army found another reason to bring cadets back.
“They have to be medically ready to join the Army, so it’s a series of medical tasks — essential tasks that can only be done at the United States Military Academy, as well as get their stuff,” said West Point Superintendent Lieut. Gen. Darryl Williams.
McCarthy stressed that the physicals and administrative steps for students to enter duty could only be done at the Academy and that appropriate measures would be put into place.
The Academy received GeneX-16 machines to conduct coronavirus tests and preserve a “safety bubble” for the seniors who have been away from campus since spring break began on March 6.
Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville said at the press briefing that coronavirus prevention protocols are in place at the Army’s training centers across the nation, and he assured they are working.
“We’re screening, testing, controlled monitoring, and have tactile dispersion measures in place. We’re creating the safety bubbles that will protect the force while they conduct training,” he said.
“We can’t telecommute to combat, and our troops need to be ready to go,” he later added. “What we need to do, as leaders, is put the appropriate risk measures in place. And we’re going to do that at the United States Military Academy.”
