On a bright Saturday in Southern California, the sprawling grounds of Camp Pendleton became the stage for a massive celebration: the 250th anniversary of the United States Marine Corps. The event, held on October 18, 2025, brought together tens of thousands of Marines, sailors, military families, and dignitaries—along with Vice President JD Vance, himself a former Marine, who delivered a message steeped in both tradition and controversy.
With the Pacific breeze carrying the distant thump of artillery and the roar of fighter jets, the day was part spectacle, part political flashpoint. The anniversary, which featured the largest live-fire demonstration in a decade on continental U.S. soil, showcased the Marine Corps’ amphibious capabilities with Navy SEALs, helicopters, and the thunderous firing of 155-millimeter artillery shells. According to CNN, the demonstration included fighter jets, helicopters, Navy vessels, and live fire from a towed howitzer—an impressive show of military might that drew both awe and criticism.
Vice President Vance, addressing a sea of uniformed Marines and their families, spoke with characteristic candor. “I had an obligation to act on the feeling of duty — that’s something that relates to every single one of you whether you are a private or a general. That spirit of service has been the spirit of the Marine Corps for centuries,” Vance said, as reported by KGTV. He reflected on his own four years in the Corps, including a tour in Iraq as a combat correspondent, noting, “I would not be here today, I would not be the vice president of the United States, I would not be the man I am today were it not for those four years that I served in the Marine Corps.”
Yet the celebration was hardly free of controversy. The live-fire demonstration, which took place near the busy Interstate 5 freeway, prompted California Governor Gavin Newsom to shut down a 17-mile stretch of the highway from noon to 3 p.m., citing “extreme safety risk and distraction to drivers because of unexpected and loud explosions.” Newsom, a frequent critic of the Trump administration, didn’t mince words, calling the exercise “a profoundly absurd show of force that could put Californians directly in harm’s way.” He added, “Firing live rounds over a busy highway isn’t just wrong — it’s dangerous.”
Vance’s office, however, pushed back forcefully. William Martin, the vice president’s communications director, told CNN that “the Marine Corps says it’s an established and safe practice” and that the demonstration was “part of routine training at Camp Pendleton.” He went on, “If Gavin Newsom wants to oppose the training exercises that ensure our Armed Forces are the deadliest and most lethal fighting force in the world, then he can go right ahead.” Marine officials further clarified that M777 artillery guns had “historically been fired during routine training from land-based artillery firing points west of I-5 into impact areas east of the interstate within existing safety protocols and without the need to close the route.”
The verbal sparring between state and federal officials didn’t stop there. Newsom’s office insisted the freeway closure was necessary to protect public safety, while Vance’s team accused the governor of “spreading Fake News to Californians to fearmonger and score cheap political points.” The tension underscored deeper political rifts, with the military’s role and public perception caught in the crossfire.
Politics also colored the vice president’s remarks to the assembled Marines. Vance took aim at Congressional Democrats over the ongoing government shutdown, pinning blame squarely on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. “I gotta get just a little political because congressional Democrats seem to want to keep the government shut down even though it would mean a lot of you wouldn’t get your paychecks. I told the President a couple days ago, ‘Sir, we need to figure out how to pay these Marines,’” Vance said, quoted by KGTV. He assured the troops, “I bring greetings today from our commander in chief, Donald J. Trump, and he wanted me to tell each and every single one of you that he’s proud of you, that he loves you and that despite the Schumer shutdown, he is going to do everything he can to make sure you get paid exactly as you deserve.”
Despite the shutdown, the Department of Defense has continued to pay troops using unobligated research, development, testing, and evaluation funds, as reported by CNN. Still, the uncertainty weighed on many in attendance, with Vance joking, “If we don’t pay our enlisted Marines, every bar in Southern California is going to go out of business, and we don’t want that.”
Beyond politics, the event was a powerful moment of unity and pride for the Marine Corps community. Attendees expressed their excitement and gratitude, with Lt. Kagen Dunlap telling KGTV, “Everyone is super stoked that we have a Vice President who was a Marine. It’s going to be even cooler to have him here to speak to thousands of Marines at Camp Pendleton.” Others, like Shannon Giese and Laura Blackans, highlighted the significance of the day: “We’re proud to be Americans. We’re excited to show that—to be able to show the strength here with the demonstrations. We’re really excited and grateful.”
The day’s program included remarks from top military officials, among them Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Navy Secretary John Phelan, and Marine Commandant Eric M. Smith. Hegseth echoed Vance’s sentiments about the essence of the Corps, stating, “I look out at this crowd, I see a lot of different types of faces. The truth is your diversity is not your strength. Never has been. Your strength is in your unity of purpose.” This message, and Vance’s own focus on “discipline, readiness and faith in one another” rather than “diversity quotas,” reflected the Trump administration’s recent moves to roll back diversity initiatives in the military—a shift that’s drawn both support and criticism across the political spectrum.
Vance’s personal journey, from a high school graduate in Ohio to Marine and now vice president, lent the event a special resonance. He traveled to San Diego with his wife, Usha Vance—a San Diego native—and their three children, making the occasion a family affair. In his memoir Hillbilly Elegy, Vance wrote, “The Marine Corps taught me how to live like an adult,” a theme he returned to in his remarks: “In the Marines, my boss didn’t just make sure I did a good job, he made sure I kept my room clean, kept my hair cut, and ironed my uniforms. The Marines changed the expectations that I had for myself.”
Amid the pageantry and the politics, the 250th anniversary celebration was, at its core, a tribute to service and sacrifice. As the last echoes of artillery faded over Camp Pendleton and the sun set on a day of both unity and division, the Marine Corps’ enduring spirit—of duty, honor, and resilience—remained unmistakably front and center.
