Copy of R.I.’s Senator Reed gives President Obama a lesson on West Point

U.S. Sen. Jack Reed accompanied President Obama to West Point on Wednesday, flying on Air Force One and Marine One from Washington to the U.S. Military Academy.

Reed, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the primary reason Mr. Obama invited him is because he’s a graduate of West Point, one of only eight in history to be elected to the Senate. (Reed graduated in 1971 and served as an active-duty Army Ranger and paratrooper until 1979.)

“He was very thoughtful to ask me to come along,” said the Rhode Island Democrat.

Reed tweeted about their flight:

“Had a chance to give POTUS [President of the United States] quick aerial tour of West Point & we discussed history of @WestPoint_USMA as we flew over Hudson aboard Marine 1” Reed said he posted the tweet during a few private minutes shortly after the 15-minute helicopter hop.

“I generally try not to tweet in front of heads of state,” he joked.

“As we swung over the Hudson,” Reed said he pointed out the near 90-degree bend in the river from which West Point gets its name, and told how, in the Revolutionary War, the Americans put a chain across the river to stop British control of the waterway from Canada to New York City.

The academy began there in 1802, under President Jefferson, he told Mr. Obama, and in 1970, when the movie “Hello Dolly!” was released, he and fellow cadets “recognized all of the terrain,” from scenes shot there.

Besides the president and Reed, on board were National Security Adviser Susan Rice, a national security aide, a military aide and other aides, Reed said.

In his commencement address, Mr. Obama defended his military decisions and outlined his foreign relations policy for the rest of his term.

“I thought it was a very thoughtful, comprehensive, and eloquent discussion of the challenges ahead and the obstacles that we’ve overcome,” Reed said.

Mr. Obama’s speech focused on the whole range of American power, Reed said, not just military force, but diplomacy, economic actions and civil engagement, he said.

There was a “very powerful and appropriate emphasis on a combined multinational effort,” he said.

Reed traveled with then-candidate Obama in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2008. With them was Chuck Hagel, then a senator from Nebraska, now U.S. secretary of defense.

Of being back at West Point, Reed said, “Every time I come back here, there’s a moment when you think back on your youth, the splendid opportunity I had, the classmates I served with,” he said. Seeing the cadets renews “a sense of selfless service.”

In that regard, he summed up Mr. Obama’s address: “The sacrifice of these young men and women deserves the wisest foreign policy.”

Reed stayed at West Point for the commissioning of officers. He then planned to take commercial transportation to New York City.