Trump Asks Pentagon to Plan Military Parade

Wall Street Journal ^ | February 7, 2018 | Julie Bykowicz

[reaganaut1]

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Defense is planning a military parade at the request of President Donald Trump, White House and Pentagon officials said Tuesday.

After observing the Bastille Day celebrations in Paris last year, Mr. Trump said he wanted to hold a similar parade on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, perhaps to celebrate the Fourth of July.

The French parade last July, which also marked the centennial of the U.S. entry into World War I, featured more than 6,000 service members, tanks and planes overhead in an elaborate display of military might. French President Emmanuel Macron invited Mr. Trump to watch the parade beside him.

“It was one of the greatest parades I’ve ever seen,” Mr. Trump said in September at the Lotte New York Palace hotel. “And to a large extent, because of what I witnessed, we may do something like that on July Fourth in Washington, down Pennsylvania Avenue. I don’t know. We’re going to have to try and top it.”

The Washington Post first reported the Mr. Trump had asked the Pentagon to arrange an event in the Bastille Day style. Pentagon officials said late Tuesday that plans were in their infancy.

On Wednesday, the chairman of the Pentagon’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joe Dunford, acknowledged the parade plans while traveling in Asia. “I’m aware of the president’s request and we are in the initial planning stages to meet the president’s direction,” he said during a stop in Bangkok.

The White House said the decision demonstrated Mr. Trump’s support for the military.

[newgeezer]

Makes more sense than going to the moon.

Yep. Been there. Done that.

Manned space exploration of any sort is a ginormous boondoggle.

I don't demand anyone pay for my hobbies. Why should I have to pay for theirs?