President Trump’s precious military parade has a date: Nov. 11, or Veteran’s Day. However, according to a Pentagon memo, the spectacle won’t include tanks, to “minimize the damage done to local infrastructure,” Al Jazeera reported.
Trump asked the Pentagon to plan a parade in February after he visited France in July for Bastille Day festivities.
Per the Pentagon memo, which released on Friday, the parade will travel from the White House to the Capitol in Washington D.C. Instead of tanks, the show will end with a “heavy air component,” which will incorporate older aircraft. While the memo didn’t reveal the parade’s cost, it did mention that it will “highlight the evolution of women veterans from separate formations in World War II to today's integrated formations.”
Military parades are unusual in America; the last time we had one was in D.C. in 1991, after the Gulf War. That parade cost $8 million and would cost considerably more today. According to White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, Trump’s goal is to have “a celebration” of the military. People have criticized Trump for the idea, comparing the parade to those that occur in China and North Korea.
And speaking of North Korea: A couple of days after news broke that Trump wanted to plan a military parade, Kim Jong-Un executed his own on Feb. 8, the eve of the opening ceremony of South Korea’s Winter Olympics. Kim’s celebration included troops, missiles, and tanks, the entirety of which traveled to Kim II Sung Square in a large choreographed military display. An estimated 50,000 people assembled to watch the parade, 13,000 of which were troops.
