Wednesday, February 07, 2018

That Parade

I hear that President Trump wants a parade; a grand, military parade,

And folks are going crazy.
Democrats will make it all about Trump, and it will be hard to argue with them. They’ll argue it’s a waste and unbecoming of a U.S. president. Trump, meanwhile, will revel in the controversy it causes and the spectacle, insisting he’s just promoting the American military and suggesting that people who oppose it oppose the military. (This will undoubtedly happen.)
Were I still on active duty, I'd cringe.  Not at  the parade itself, but at the logistical nightmare that such a thing entails.  Parades of any size, even a piddling brigade parade, make staff officers swear and commanders berserk. The privates and the sergeants know that they'll spend weeks preparing, cleaning, polishing and rehearsing, and that when it is all over, they'll  be foot-sore and tired.

It will be a grand spectacle, and it will be pure Trump.

Exit question: Didn't they have a grand veterans parade back in the '30s?

4 comments:

BobF said...

Yep. From a participant's standpoint, it was never a morale booster for me or those I knew (30 years Air Force), quite the opposite, and it got worse as rank and position went up.

Moving it off base was a whole 'nuther kettle of fish. Streets wide enough until they put out the pennant lines and bicycle rack barriers they failed to tell us about were bad enough, and then we added rolling stock, with its own nightmares.

Trump has no idea what he's asking for, uh, make that, demanding.

Dave said...

Grand veterans' parade in the 1930s...I know they had a big hoorah for the 75th anniversary of Gettysburg.

Ed Jones said...

If we pulled all of our personal out of the shithole countries {stans}, And declared victory. I would be all for it.

Rivrdog said...

Interesting that Trump announces a parade right after Rocket Man announces another of his parades, and that one will feature his latest rockets, although, rockets on trucks don't prove a thing.

I have to hark back to San Antonio's Alamo Day Parade in 1967, which the entire corps of Officer Trainees at the USAF OTS had to march in. In late Spring, it was in the high 80s, humid, and all we had for class A uniforms were USAF-Issue Winter Weight Wool. The parade route was 8 miles long. There were no water breaks (can't wear a canteen with Class A uniforms. We had to wear the parade Hat, of course, more wool covering our heads. After marching, we got to where our busses ought to have been, but they were over a mile away, so more marching. It sucked. That was my one, each and only parade off base, though.