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 ...
We really never have had a "show of force" parade - that we leave to the Soviets and their imitators. We have had victory parades and we have had "see our boys off" parades but since the late '40s, we have steadily reduced our image and attachment to our military folks to the point that we reduce them to being a cypher. We sort of celebrate the Special Forces in a sort of cartoon image in movies but the real young people who bear all of the real responsibilities and hardships of service are ignored. We are at the point now where the numbers of good quality young people being recruited are dropping off and the army is seriously pulling young women into the ranks of combat forces. Which is idiocy, but that's how desperate things have gotten.
America has always dreaded "large standing armies" but what we have is a real army of the people and America could really stand looking at who we really are and how good we are. And our young people could really appreciate being cheered by the people they have volunteered to protect. And Russia and China and North Korea and Iran should have a look too and maybe have second thoughts about provoking these fine young fighters.
Right after the First Gulf War, they had a military parade in Washington DC and I went there to cheer the troops and I was amazed at how little the average audience member knew about our military forces and equipment. So I played "parade narrator" for them and called out who the units were and what types of vehicles and weapons were going by and I was startled by the interest and enthusiasm of those people in those things. I was also a bit wistful they no one had ever done something like that for us, the guys that fought so hard and so long in Vietnam.
It would be a good thing - we should do it.
I would like to see a ICE parade.
Starting in California.
5,000 ICE agents and 10,000 National Guard.
Planes,tanks ..robots...SWAT..
It's one thing to shut down the local ordinances but entirely another thing to gain the skills and experience of major logistic movement cross country.
Anwar Sadat, perhaps not so much. /s
But yeah, I'm down with anything that makes the Frankfurt School Marxist Re-gressive Alinksy Soros Lame-Stream Media Centipede apoplectic. As this surely will.
Big depot up in Belmont AZ-thats near Flagstaff.
We need to do it and often - good training!
I guess I’ll know next time. It appears with him there’s usually a next time.
So what gives YOU the authority to defy the numerous historians who bestow on Patton the title of “expert” in amphibious landings? The Japanese home islands had nothing to do with our landing in North Africa. Your ignorance is outdone by your arrogance.
My grandfather named me Molly Pitcher when I was very young.I have used it as my pen name for many many years. He is the one who fanned the flames of my interest in history, specifically Military History. Perhaps some dy you’ll stumble on one of my books.
Perhaps you prefer the reception our soldiers got when they returned from Vietnam? I prefer the parades of my youth honoring our military.
Agree - This notion seems to overlook the national parades we already have.
http://www.americanveteranscenter.org/avc-events/parade/
http://nationalveteransday.org/
He was indeed the Army’s expert. However, he did not command the Naval Task Forces that participated in Torch. His work and expertise began when their feet were dry. Up to the high water mark the Naval assets,experts and Command structure were by appointment and reality in charge of the operations. Even the landing craft were Navy and Coast Guard commanded. The recon was done by the Navy. Air cover largely provided by the Navy air assets.
Arrogance? Yeah, perhaps. Based on my knowledge of and involvement in Naval operations.
Oh, I forgot the ever important NGFS was Navy.
I don’t mind trolling the left.
I do mind millions of taxpayer dollars to do so.
40 years later and I’m *STILL* pissed off that my hearing kept me from passing my armed forces physical (4 times, man did I ever want to go)....
This isn't "trolling the left". This is giving the left another thing to mock Trump with.
Go back to DU and lie, there. When you choose to come out of your Lefty closet, and identify yourself, Name, Rank and Horsepower, someone will listen.
Here's a hint. On the Right Side of the Bell Curve, we DO NOT get all frantic about being "correct". That's the staked out position of democrats.
It’s in God’s hands - sometimes you can’t get there no matter how much you try.
I won’t BS you; It was really hard; almost every grunt I knew was wounded at least once but it was also great to be with those incredibly brave, tough guys.
Despite my whining about the reception we got when we made it home, I wouldn’t trade that time with anything else in the world. I learned who and what our country really was.
That is an equally valid way to see it perhaps, but a lot of the time they end up looking the worse for trying to mock him. Don’t really have a dog in the fight except I dislike spending a single cent on anything.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.