“Bring on the parade!“
I wonder how active duty personnel feel about this? As a Vietnam Vet I remember how I felt about it.....
As a vet, I’m kind of mixed on this. I really did not like marching in those sort of shows. There should only be a parade to mark something significant like withdrawal from Afghanistan.
I’ll tell you how we felt. Parades suck. No thanks. I just retired from 24 years in the army. Every time I had to be part of one of these dog and pony shows it was a waste of time. They usually occur on a weekend or holiday and that’s time better spent with your family. I would estimate that at least 80% of my soldiers felt this way.
I commanded many units and always tried to keep things low key and quick. I gave soldiers the option of keeping promotion ceremonies or awards ceremonies small and private. I even disliked change of command ceremonies but realized they were necessary and traditional. We used to time the speeches. Anyone who talked more than one minute took some shit about it...
Lol i used to hate that kind of horse feathers! But soldiers love nothing more than marching around in the sun practicing drill and being inspected! Only O5 and up love an f-ing parade. Unless you include officialdom. They think the parade is for them.
I suspect Trump sees this as a projection of force exercise. The rest of them? Just shiny toys.