Army’s 250th anniversary to feature military parade – on Trumps birthday
Get ready for the Left to caterwaul “Dictator!”
The Army on Friday confirmed there will be a military parade on President Donald Trump’s birthday in June, as part of the celebrations around the military branch’s 250th birthday, according to a report in Western Journal.
Plans for the parade, as first detailed by The Associated Press on Thursday, call for about 6,600 soldiers, 150 vehicles and 50 helicopters to follow a route from Arlington, Virginia, to the National Mall. Officials say the parade, which originally was not in the plans for the Army’s anniversary celebration, will cost tens of millions of dollars.
Trump has long talk of a military parade in the nation’s capital, and discussions with the Pentagon about having one in conjunction with the anniversary festival began less than two months ago, according to the report.
The Army’s 250th birthday happens to coincide with Trump’s 79th birthday on June 14. In a statement Friday, Army spokesman Steve Warren said the Army’s birthday celebration will include “a spectacular fireworks display, a parade, and a daylong festival on the National Mall.”
In comments to Fox News Digital, White House officials confirmed a commemorative parade would take place and said it would be one of the first events to kick off a yearlong celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary.
Warren said that given the significance of the Army birthday, they are looking at options “to make the celebration even bigger, with more capability demonstrations, additional displays of equipment, and more engagement with the community.”
Trump detractors wasted no time decrying the event, with one on X calling it a “birthday parade” for the 47th president.
VoteVets posted: “Not to honor service, not for national defense – just to feed the ego of a wannabe dictator. Pure authoritarian cosplay.”
Republicans Against Trump posted on X: “Cutting cancer research while wasting money on this? Shameful.”
Army planning documents, obtained this week by the Associated Press and dated April 29 and 30, said the parade will include soldiers from at least 11 corps and divisions nationwide. They said it would involve a Stryker battalion with two companies of Stryker vehicles, a tank battalion and two companies of tanks, an infantry battalion with Bradley vehicles, Paladin artillery vehicles, Howitzers and infantry vehicles.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser was not happy about so many tanks rolling through the city’s streets. “If military tanks are used, they should be accompanied with many millions of dollars to repair the roads,” she told AP.
The Army birthday festival has been planned for more than a year and is slated to include displays of Army equipment, military demonstrations, musical performances and a fitness competition on the National Mall.
During his first term, Trump proposed having a parade after seeing one in France on Bastille Day in 2017. Trump said that after watching the two-hour procession along the famed Champs-Elysees he wanted an even grander one on Pennsylvania Avenue.
That plan was ultimately dumped due to the huge costs – with one estimate of a $92 million price tag – and other logistical issues.