Biden calls on West Point graduates to 'hold fast' to oath during ceremony

President Joe Biden addressed graduating cadets at West Point and urged them to "hold fast" to their oath as threats begin to increase across the world. 

“Hold fast to your values that you learned here at West Point,” he told the graduates on Saturday.

He said that the oath they took was to “not a political party, not to a president, but to the Constitution of the United States of America, against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”

Biden said that the military would be facing upcoming challenges this year and that's why remembering the West Point Academy motto is so important.

“There’s never been a time in history when we’ve asked our military to do so many different things in some many different places around the world, all at the same time,” he said, according to The Hill. 

Some of the military challenges he cited include Ukraine in the wake of its war with Russia, defending Israel from Iran and making sure aid gets to Gaza. 

“Nothing is guaranteed about our democracy in America,” Biden said in his speech. “Every generation has an obligation to defend it, to protect it, to preserve it, to choose it. Now it’s your turn.”

The motto of the Academy — Duty, Honor, Country — was the subject of some controversy in March when it was removed from the mission statement, raising concern about the military become "woke."