I am a veteran, most soldiers do not like parades.

[shockey80]

When I was in the army our captain paraded us past base headquarters to make himself look good. It almost turned into a dam mutiny. Soldiers know when they are being used.

Soldiers will know this parade is about Trump, not them.

[DrDan]

1. yep - decades in the AF and hated parades

we had to do them annually - but that was way too often

[zipplewrath]

5. 3 times a day

During WWII, at some training bases, there were so many men that had to go to the mess hall, that they got marched there. My dad said it was the most efficient way to move that many people at the same time. They didn't march back to their barracks though.

[DrDan]

13. while 3 months in Officer Training School we marched everywhere . . . everywhere

We marched in formation to the dining hall and we could leave on our own - but we had to march - no casual walking.

Perhaps that is why I hated parades so much - 3 months of constant marching.

[jberryhill]

16. Is there anything anyone would rather be doing than Marching Up And Down The Square?

[DrDan]

19. genius

[MineralMan]

2. For most people in the military, the only time they ever march in

a formation is during Basic Training. In order for there to be a parade in DC, a whole lot of people are going to have to be retrained in marching. That alone will take considerable time, if there is to be a large parade.

While they're training to march in step and stay properly aligned, they're not doing whatever jobs they actually have in the military. That's one more reason for this to be canceled and written off as a bad idea.

[underpants]

3. Agreed

I've posted this a couple of times over the last few days

God I hated ceremonies when I was in the Army.

Endless inspections and practicing and standing around. Change of commands were the worst. Everyday in our "good" BDU's and spit shined boots. Then after a weeke of practice in the airfield they cut the grass - clippings everywhere and bugs. Standing at attention or parade rest for hours with bugs buzzing around biting. That was for a change of command at my regular unit.

Right before graduating from basic getting ready for the ceremony they had us pick up a set of bleachers and carry it about a mile to where the Marines trained (Ft. Knox). Two drill Sgts just finishing school took us. We unlocked the chain and started pulling this one out and then this one, finally they decided on one and we locked everything up and carried it back. After we fell out I walked up to the two Drills and said, "Can I ask you a question?"
"Yeah sure"
"Aren't those the same bleachers we took up there?"
They both started chuckling and one said, " Welcome to the Army"

[HopeAgain]

4. They also can't complain about it

Which is the whole point, Trump gets to believe they are doing it because they love him sooo much.

[NeoGreen]

6. The only ones I didn't mind...

...were the ones we did during basic training in Lackland, AFB.

They were nominally for some retiring CMSGT or SMSGT, and were useful for the team building marching training we were put through (during basic). Actually, I did mind at the time, but I came to understand the utility afterwards.

I only did one other thereafter, during a base commander exchange, and it was a big PITA.

My observation; losers hold parades before the war is won.

And in the US, we hold celebratory ticker tape parades down our main streets for all of us, not Washington DC parades for CIC sycophancy.

[Solly Mack]

7. Most here, on an army post, are more inclined for the money to be used to help the troops.

They see the parade as something for Trump and not the troops.

A few think it a grand idea - but most? Most see it as an insult.

I've been asking and some have commented on their own.

[DFW]

8. They should give him this kind of a parade:

[apnu]

20. And after that display, the movie goes downhill fast.

Great scene tho.

[DFW]

22. It was never intended to be a milestone of American cinema

But that one scene is classic.

[TEB]

9. Piss on trump

I’m former infantry

[TreasonousBastard]

10. I'll add my veteran's voice-- WE HATED PARADES. We hated formations and did everything possible...

to get out of them. A week in the grease pit on KP was a better deal.

That many people marching in close formation? And trying to not get run over by tanks and missile carriers. Listening to commands over all the noise...

I still hate parades. Even Macys' parade.

(Mummers in Philly is kinda cool, though-- they're all drunk.)

[DVRacer]

11. I agree!!

After Pass and Review in basic I never wanted to do that again. Nobody wants this except Little Hands Donnie.

[Grammy23]

14. It is Wannabee Dictators Dream.

He is just arrogant enough and delusional enough to think it is all about pleasing him. He actually thinks it is showing deference and respect to him. Too bad each soldier doesn’t have a thought bubble over their head showing EXACTLY what they’re thinking at that moment!

Their thoughts might scorch that ragamuffin “hair” right off of his punkin head.

[Yonnie3]

12. I worked at 8th and I in DC once in a while.

Some will immediately recognize the address. This is the historic Marine Barracks. More information at: http://www.barracks.marines.mil/

They conduct weekly sunset parades in DC. I overheard a young Marine grousing about having to go dress up for the parade. A lifer asked him if he would rather be humping gear and dodging IEDs in the desert than parading. It took him a full 30 seconds to decide the parade was better duty.

Yep, they don't like parades.

[Wounded Bear]

15. One of the reasons got out was that kind of crap...

Once Vietnam wound down, seems all we did were parades and IG inpections.

[sarisataka]

17. COME SEE THE DOG AND PONY SHOW

Can't recall a single parade we didn't consider more than a necessary evil...

[sofa king]

18. I dislike Trump, and this sort of stupid.

It's stupid in so many ways, so please don't think I'm being complete when I observe only a few things:

* Dishonor: Some proportion of the troops know and will never forgive the fact that Trump used is privilege to evade the Vietnam War. Now he is their martinet-in-chief.

* The shame of the "parade army": It doesn't matter how they try to sell it to the troops, some proportion of them will know that they're acting as a literal parade army. "Parade armies" are a pseudo-slang military term for militaries that exist primarily for show. As it happens, the Egyptian Army under Nasser and Sadat had not a little bit of the parade army in it, which was mercilessly exploited by the Israelis at least four times.

* The opportunity for complete havoc. An army on parade isn't actually in a position to defend itself, and it invites low-level attacks like bombings and suicide trucks, which requires an actual defensive perimiter, which provides even more points where things can go straight to hell. Or, as the Egyptians discovered, sometimes an army can evolve into a political party itself, and actually decapitate the nation's leadership, as they did with Anwar Sadat.

For god's sake, don't read anything into that last point. I respect the office, if not the office holder, and my complaint here is about the threat to the security of the Commander in Chief, subordinate commanders, and particularly the troops themselves, who deserve the closest attention.

It is, as I said before, stupid, in this case stupid in a way that does not necessarily benefit our President, and thus it is an important indicator of the very low level of thought that is being put into everything the White House does.

[SeattleVet]

21. Yep, hated them...

most memorable was a change of command ceremony when some colonel retired. Weather was OK (for Plattsburgh, NY, that means "not snowing or raining or 15 below zero...just deal with the mosquitoes&quot and we are all out there in our dress blues, and mostly wanting to be pretty much anywhere else at the time. We march around the parade field, alternately stand at attention, and at ease. Listen to some speeches. Watch a lot of saluting and hand-shaking.

Then they started music again. Specifically, we hear the bouncy strains of John Philip Sousa's "Liberty Bell March". Now, this is the mid-1970's. We're mostly a bunch of 20-something airmen, and we only know this tune in one way - as the theme from Monty Python's Flying Circus. I'm a tall guy, so I was in the back rank of the formation. So here we are, standing at attention while some stuff is going on up on the reviewing stand (saluting, hand shaking, back patting, presentation of plaques, that sort of crap). I'm looking at the backs of all the blue uniforms in front of me, and notice movement. Lots of movement.

We were disciplined enough not to burst out laughing, but there were a LOT of shoulders moving up and down, as people were stifling their laughs. No out-loud laughing, but once in a while you could hear a snort or two. We see a few confused faces on the reviewing stand...probably older officers wondering what the hell is so funny.

I don't remember who retired, who took command, or why the hell they needed to have everyone waste a day honoring them...but I do remember the day that a Strategic Air Command change of command ceremony turned into a Monty Python skit. All that was missing was a giant foot coming down on the reviewing stand at the closing notes.