Under clear skies in Falcon Stadium on Thursday, Vice President Kamala Harris called on the Air Force Academy’s Class of 2024 to uphold and build upon the nation’s dominance of the air.

The vice president gave examples of U.S. air superiority, describing how the Air Force is helping to deter Russia on NATO’s eastern flank, protecting the people of Ukraine with missile warnings and keeping the Indo-Pacific free and open.

Additionally, the U.S. ensured that 99% of the 300 drones and missiles launched by Iran against Israel did not reach their target in April.

“Our nation is counting on you to preserve and extend that strength,” Harris said.

The graduates’ familiarity with modern technology, such as artificial intelligence, will help ensure the country’s air power will never be matched, she said.

PHOTOS: Air Force Academy Graduation 2024

“I was particularly proud to learn last November you designed and launched your own satellite,” she told the class.

The work of the class of 974 students will build on historic excellence, Harris said, including the foundation for victory America’s pilots built ahead of D-Day, the World War II invasion on the beaches of France.

“It was our pilots, our planes and our air crews that knocked the enemy from the sky,” she said.

The WWII pilots also bombed train tracks and fuel depots to prevent German reinforcements from reaching the front lines, she said.

In addition to outlining future challenges, such as deterring China’s aggression, graduation speakers also lauded cadets for their years of training that started under strict COVID-19 restrictions.

Retiring Superintendent Lt. Gen. Richard Clark said the cadets started their training abruptly the day they were dropped off by their parents in the fall of 2020.

“They basically had to kick you out of the door and keep driving,” he said.

Then they faced the “brain tickles” of COVID testing, virtual classes, skipped trips home and eating with plexiglass partitions. Clark stayed in the dorm with them and helped fill the hours playing video games and ping pong, he said.

For 2nd Lt. Amber Norman the year was “social isolation to the max.” Life improved the following year when the restrictions ended. But the middle years were tough because there was no end in sight, she said. 

Norman and other said their graduation would likely take awhile to feel real.

 “I have envisioned that moment, throwing my hat off with the planes coming over, for so long it’s just surreal,” she said. 

The new officer plans to go on to study sociology at San Diego State and then pursue a career in intelligence.  

The retiring superintendent said he has enduring faith in the whole class.

PHOTOS: Air Force Academy graduation attendees

“You have a great ability to lead through uncertainty and overcome adversity,” he said.

Among the thousands of people in the audience was the wife and daughter of the class’s exemplar, Maj. Leroy Homer. The former Air Force Academy graduate was the co-pilot on United Airlines Flight 93 when it was hijacked by terrorists on 9/11.

Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall noted that Homer was a reminder of outstanding character.

“He stands as a symbol to you and reminder to the next generation of how we will never forget,” he said.