QUANTICO MARINE CORPS BASE, Virginia — Vice President JD Vance proved the saying, “Once a Marine, always a Marine,” during a visit to the Quantico Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Virginia, on Wednesday.
During his visit, he gave remarks to about 750 Marines gathered to greet him, served chow at a mess hall, ate lunch with a small group of them, and tested out some new weapons at a range.
Vance got to test out the M27 5.56 Infantry Assault Rifle, which all Marines have to qualify on yearly, the M107 .50 caliber sniper rifle, and the M240B machine gun. He also tested out a drone system, and fired an M101 105mm Howitzer.
He joked on X: “Become VP, get to shoot machine guns with Marines. Not a bad gig!”
During his remarks, he spoke about the Trump administration’s goals for the military — getting rid of diversity quotas and rebuilding the nation’s ability to produce cutting edge military equipment again.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, we believe in a very simple principle. We don’t care who you are, where you came from. We don’t care what skin color you are. We care about excellence and we care about patriotism,” he said, adding:
No more quotas, no more ridiculous mumbo-jumbo. No more diversity trainings. We believe the real strength and 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.
He said the Trump administration will invest over a trillion dollars to build up the manufacturing base so that if U.S. troops do go to war, they are equipped with the “best weapons anywhere in the world.”
He also delivered a message from Trump to the Marines, whom he said he cut short a meeting with to get to Quantico.
“He wanted me to tell you two things. First of all, that he loves you, and second of all that he’s proud of you,” he said.
Vance added a personal note: “So you all know how big of a part of the Marine Corps was of my life and how important it was for me, and I just wanted to say from the bottom of my heart, from one Marine to another, thank you for your service.”
Before he arrived, Marines expressed excitement over getting to meet him.
Marine Corps Lance Corporal Jacob Parker told the Daily Wire that when he learned that the vice president was a former Marine, he “was like, hell yeah.”
“I have a lot of motivation in my body going through my veins,” he added.
Marine Corps Lance Corporal Casey Bonestroo told the Daily Wire:
At the end of the day, to be a Marine is to be a Marine. We all went through boot camp, we all went through the same thing, so to know that we have a leader in the White House who’s been in our shoes and have experienced same things that we have experienced, is super motivating.”
“I know at the end of the day, he was willing to get down and dirty for our country, the same thing that we are. So at the end of the day, the fact he’s coming, taking his time to talk to us, it’s amazing. To have a leader who’s willing to do that, it’s really cool to see,” she added.
Earlier Vance joked that he was never high-ranking enough to serve at Quantico, which is why he wanted to run for vice president.
“As a proud member of the E-4 Mafia, I had never made it to Quantico myself, but it’s one of the reasons why I wanted to run Vice President. I thought maybe it was time for the colonels and generals to listen to the corporals for a change. How’s that sound?”
Vance served four years with the Marine Corps, including in Iraq, serving as a combat correspondent. He has credited the service with teaching him “how to live like an adult.”
He wrote in his memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, “It was the Marine Corps that first gave me an opportunity to truly fail, made me take that opportunity, and then, when I did fail, gave me another chance anyway.”
The Marine Corps is the only entity in the Department of Defense that has successfully passed an audit and has met its recruiting goals for several years while the others have struggled. Recruitment for the other services, however, began ramping up in the last few months, particularly after the 2024 presidential election.
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