A female West Point cadet playing with her smartphone Saturday while in mid-march to the military academy’s graduation ceremony has caused a bit of a stir on social.
West Point posted the video of cadets marching to their graduation ceremony, and at least in the beginning, all appears normal, but around the 47-second mark, the female cadet in question comes on screen for a brief flash.
As the cadets march by, one of the females in formation is unmistakably looking down at a device in her hand while marching. She doesn’t look up a single time and keeps her head down until she is off-screen. This device looks about the size and shape of a smartphone. It is unclear what she was doing fiddling with a smartphone during a march.
Users on Facebook responding to the West Point video displayed on the military academy’s page had similar thoughts.
“Great discipline,” said Mark Browne, one of the Facebook commenters. “Is this the best and brightest future leadership of our military?”
“That’s what’s wrong with this military and government,” user Al Vega said. “This is not just another college graduation. No military pride or discipline being taught.”
Others, however, saw fit to defend the cadet by saying that fiddling with a smartphone while in the middle of a march is a small detail and should not downplay all the hard work that went into graduating from the academy.
Vice President Joe Biden, who delivered the commencement speech at the West Point graduation ceremony, said the U.S. military needs more women and gays, especially in leadership roles, as diversity will serve to strengthen the force.
“Having men and women together in the battlefield is an incredible asset, particularly when they’re asked to lead teams in parts of the world with fundamentally different expectations and norms,” Biden said, according to The Associated Press.
West Point did not respond to a request for comment from The Daily Caller News Foundation by press time.
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