We already have 2 very fine National parades for Veterans Day and Memorial Day - as well as lots of regional parades on Armed Forces day.
The biggest strike against this idea is its inspiration...A French parade?
Reconsider, Mr. President.
I do not object to parades to honor our military but yes, a French or NK or Soviet style parade showing off our military might and our tanks, missiles and other armaments going down Pennsylvania Avenue? No thanks. We don’t need to and IMO should not do that, at least not as some other countries do.
The thing about the local Veterans Day and Memorial Day parades is that it isn’t just, and often isn’t current military members marching, but veterans orgs and auxiliaries, National Guard, and local civic groups and bands - all marching to honor our military, not our military blowing their own horns as some might interpret as being.
Speaking of Armed Forces Day, back in 2005 I went on a long weekend which just happened to be on Armed Forces Day weekend with my then boyfriend to DC. He worked at Aberdeen Proving Grounds as a civilian in procurement and tried to use some contacts he had to get us a visit to the WH but wasn’t able. But we did go to Arlington National Cemetery and to the Vietnam and WWII Memorials. Very moving.
On the last day we were there, we were going to go to the Smithsonian museums but on the Mall was an Armed Forces Day celebration with just about every branch represented, and with all sorts of gear (tanks, helicopters, weaponry and tech displayed) and it was great fun, not only for us but it seemed also for the military guys and gals who enjoyed interacting with and talking with us, answering questions.
I climbed into an Apache helicopter and sat in the pilot’s seat and was surprised how tight it was inside and seeing all the controls, a HMMWV, and I held a (obviously unarmed) hand held rocket launcher and some guns and saw up close lots of other cool stuff including tech to detect bioweapons and a display/mockup of a military field hospital and got to talk with a Marine Corps colonel who was field surgeon. And of course my boyfriend, without divulging anything that would break his security clearance was excited to talk to some of the military guys on the some of the gear for which he was procuring, asking them how they liked or didn’t like them, it was like a field trip for him.
I think I got a lot more out of that experience as far as learning what our guys and gals in the military do and the hardware and tools they use than I would have gotten from watching a parade. Just my POV.