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Trump Asks Pentagon to Plan Military Parade
Wall Street Journal ^ | February 7, 2018 | Julie Bykowicz

Posted on 02/07/2018 6:34:25 AM PST by 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.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 1moretime; likefrance; likenorthkorea; likerussia; parade; pentagon; trumpdod; usmilitary
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To: BlueLancer

Give me a break, this is a political move and brilliant. This plays well in Peoria. Just put up with it. It is worth it.


221 posted on 02/07/2018 3:24:27 PM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn)
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To: ExpatGator

You gave yourself the name Expat. So why?


222 posted on 02/07/2018 3:24:59 PM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn)
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To: crz

Doesn’t work without the hardware.


223 posted on 02/07/2018 3:26:08 PM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn)
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To: central_va; ExpatGator
You gave yourself the name Expat. So why?

I'm going to go out on a limb and speculate that his name is because he was raised in Florida and lives in Missouri.

224 posted on 02/07/2018 3:26:43 PM PST by DoodleDawg
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To: Mollypitcher1
"Since George Patton was the acknowledged expert on amphibious landings at the time, you should pay more attention to his advice"

So, you don't know sh!t about Georgie. Not that you care, but Patton didn't know about landing on a hostile shore from Adam's off ox. That expertise belongs to the Corps. Patton knew cavalry tactics, which he applied to armor.

Right there, that little fragment, shows that any rear rank field music knows more about the military, it's history, customs and traditions than you.

Scurry back to whatever Socialist rock you crawled out from. We'uns don' favor trolling...

225 posted on 02/07/2018 3:40:29 PM PST by jonascord (First rule of the Dunning-Kruger Club is that you do not know you are in the Dunning-Kruger club.)
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To: BlueLancer

However, during WWII or Korea or Vietnam, soldiers weren’t pulled out of training or preparing for deployment to do these things.
.............................................................During WWII
Men were pulled from the front lines to do these sort of things. Unfortunately, you are shortsighted in your argument. During WWII the citizens of this great country helped pull the load in every way possible to help our servicemen. Today, without the draft, far fewer are exposed to the service. Why do you think our volunteer servicemen are overextended and exhausted with repeated deployments and little recup time? You can thank the disgraceful Jane Fonda’s of this country for besmirching our servicemen and supporting the commies. We have been softened up by the idiots smoking pot and shouting, “make love, not war.”
Our military needs to do some big screen advertising and nothing is better than starting with a great big parade! The end result will be more volunteers, more support from the citizens, and more equipment and shorter deployments for our overworked Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard and Air Force. Think about it.


226 posted on 02/07/2018 3:47:02 PM PST by Mollypitcher1 (I have not yet begun to fight....John Paul Jones)
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To: reaganaut1

I agree. This is DUMB. I don’t mind defending Trump and his idiosyncrasies. This is just idiocy.


227 posted on 02/07/2018 3:48:48 PM PST by Hildy (There)
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To: NewJerseyJoe
I love a parade.

Didn't France just do this?

Every country does this sort of thing once in a while. What's the big deal?

I don't get the hysterical reaction against this. Just because bad actors also have military parades doesn't mean the United States can't have one.

I think it's a fine idea, and I reject the knee-jerk hand-wringing...

228 posted on 02/07/2018 3:52:41 PM PST by sargon ("If the President doesn't drain the Swamp, the Swamp will drain the President.")
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To: jonascord

> Patton didn’t know about landing on a hostile shore from Adam’s off ox <

I didn’t feel like getting involved in this particular thread fight. But I’m happy someone (you) picked up on that. Patton was involved in amphibious landings, especially the one in Sicily. But his expertise was - as you said - in cavalry tactics applied to armor.


229 posted on 02/07/2018 3:53:39 PM PST by Leaning Right (I have already previewed or do not wish to preview this composition.)
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To: jonascord

Do not think, however, that a parade is anything more than a show for the civilians.
....................................................
After a lot of blather, you finally got down to the point of my support for a parade. Who do you think pays the taxes that gives you your equipment and funds your training? The CITIZENS otherwise known as civilians!!! Why on earth you would not wish to have the support of them is beyond me.


230 posted on 02/07/2018 3:55:02 PM PST by Mollypitcher1 (I have not yet begun to fight....John Paul Jones)
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To: reaganaut1
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.

I think it's a capital idea. It's ia reaction to what the President saw in France on Bastille day. Was everyone similarly wringing their hands in hysteria about France and its new President doing such a thing? I don't recall that.

Those who automatically conflate such a thing with bad actors are getting caught up in Enemy propaganda.

On the Fourth of July? Go for it, Mr. President! I love a parade...

231 posted on 02/07/2018 3:55:46 PM PST by sargon ("If the President doesn't drain the Swamp, the Swamp will drain the President.")
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To: reaganaut1
November 11, 2018: One hundred years since end of WWI.
232 posted on 02/07/2018 3:57:44 PM PST by Shqipo (All this Winning is so MAGAnifocent!)
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To: bigdaddy45

Bull. Discipline as well as patience are always to be desired in a fighting man.


233 posted on 02/07/2018 3:57:52 PM PST by Mollypitcher1 (I have not yet begun to fight....John Paul Jones)
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To: DoodleDawg

Thanks, D’Dawg, and you’re spot on. Not that it’s any of his or her business, but it’s apparently entitled to know and too good or challenged to figure it out themselves.


234 posted on 02/07/2018 4:01:30 PM PST by ExpatGator (I hate Illinois Nazis!)
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To: paterfamilias
Initially, my reaction was negative.

But then I started thinking: maybe this is a Trump gambit to bring Kim Jung Un to a shared reality with the rest of the world.

Our hardware isn't made of cardboard. Those who are disparaging the idea of this parade are being completely suckered by the idea that only "bad actors" do such things, which is patently false.

It's a great way for Americans to see where their tax dollars go. It will stimulate a national discussion on the military, our capability, and military spending.

Those who are cowering in fear about the "optics" are absolutely ridiculous. When America does a military parade, it's the real thing.

If you don't like it, turn it off. Jeez. What a bunch of snowflakes clutching their pearls about "optics"! LOL!

235 posted on 02/07/2018 4:01:49 PM PST by sargon ("If the President doesn't drain the Swamp, the Swamp will drain the President.")
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To: chuckles

Negative thinking never accomplished a thing! It must be sad to be you.


236 posted on 02/07/2018 4:03:25 PM PST by Mollypitcher1 (I have not yet begun to fight....John Paul Jones)
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To: Mears; central_va
"Just because someone doesn’t join the military they don’t belong here? A VERY strange way of thinking."

Really? Service to our country should be the very first stop in adulthood for every able-bodied American man, particularly in wartime.

Want to hear something really strange? "conservatives" who let other people take the hardships and risks for our freedom. And then complain when we might have a military parade.

237 posted on 02/07/2018 4:04:57 PM PST by Chainmail (A simple rule of life: if you can be blamed, you're responsible.)
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To: bigdaddy45
Preparing for a parade does nothing to prepare a man for war. This isn’t the British Army of 1775.

Our military has the resources to walk and chew gum at the same time. One friggin' parade isn't going to degrade our ability to wage war one iota...

238 posted on 02/07/2018 4:07:18 PM PST by sargon ("If the President doesn't drain the Swamp, the Swamp will drain the President.")
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To: Chainmail; Mears

I was in the Navy so does my opinion count?


239 posted on 02/07/2018 4:09:31 PM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn)
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To: central_va

Yes it does. Dont need to haul all that stuff in there for one days parade.

So get over it.


240 posted on 02/07/2018 4:10:52 PM PST by crz
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