I can’t speak to what we did in 1975 to observe the bicentennial. I wasn’t born then. I do know that was a dark time for the Army, coming out of Vietnam and transitioning to the all-volunteer force. The better judgment will be what we do this October and November for the Navy and Marine Corps, respectively. If these are likewise made into big events that celebrate the heritage and history of 250 years of service, then we can probably let this go. If, however, those events roll around and the President et al barely acknowledge them (because they are not his birthday), then I will concede that the political left has had a solid point about the Army Birthday Parade.
I certainly wasn't around either so I had to go look it up. Doesn't appear we've ever done any anniversary parades ever.
Merely making an observation, if that's OK with you. A July 4th parade would celebrate all of the Armed Forces anniversaries, even the ones that don't fall on Trump's birthday.
Yes, no one is going to put me on the planning committee, but I would say the Navy does not need to do precisely what the Army did to meet to the spirit of the matter. Off the top of my head, I would say the proper venue would be one of our larger port cities instead of DC, for instance.
People (outside of the armed forces, of course) often forget that the first three services pre-existed the country in terms of what we consider our born-on date. That is because we were at war with our parent state for over a year before officially declaring independence.
I’ve been to Annapolis. To be able to showcase what the Navy has you need a bigger port city, such as one of the ones that gets used for Fleet Week. Again, no one is going to ask me, but I would also say they should use one of the ports that was in existence when the Navy was founded, such as New York, Boston, Charleston, etc.
Well, I can. Watching a draft dodger that belittled John McCain (indisputable, on tape) and has reportedly made horrible remarks about our servicemen (losers and suckers) and wouldn’t attend a ceremony about D-Day (in which I had an uncle participate) then try to act like a Commander-In-Chief was galling. A slap in the face of our soldiers and a middle finger to America.
I appreciated our troops. Trump was the problem. Got news for you - lots of people had an issue with Trump “presiding” over the event. Millions of Americans don’t blindly worship him as others do.
Someone did the math on this and figured Dotard’s birthday party cost tax payers around $2000 per person in attendance…. What an absolute waste.
This is the first time in my lifetime there has been somebody who is explicitly trying to tear down the constitutions and all of the institutions laws norms and traditions that made this country great. From time to time others have tried to side step it here and there, but this is the first full on frontal attack. Yes we will likely “survive” it, but my guess is will not be better off for it. Trump will continue to push the limits until people like yourself - who tend to towards “both sides” equivocation, decide they’ve had enough.
Although it's a rather low bar I was pleasantly surprised by Trump's speech yesterday. He actually limited the speech to honoring and praising the Army. I was fully expecting Trump to use the speech as an opportunity to bash Newsom, Biden or Obama, to claim credit for ending the culture of "wokeness" in the Army, or taking credit for reinstating the former names of military bases previously named to honor Confederate generals.
My guess is that the speech was an outlier. I fully expect Trump to return to form bashing his Democratic predecessor and virtually every prominent Democrat politician almost every time he speaks whether at a press conference, a formal speech or a MAGA type rally.
Full disclosure: while the names are going back to what they were, they are being renamed after other Soldiers with the same last name as the Confederate officers to whom you are referring to take that issue off the table (example: Fort Bragg is now named for World War II paratrooper Roland L. Bragg). After holding those names for 100+ years, they just became the names of the places in their own right. Rucker, Benning, and Bragg for instance held special meaning for Soldiers of aviation, special forces, and airborne, and most of them could not tell you the first fact about the Confederate officers for whom they were originally named. I think striking all references to the Confederacy and the full name of the original namesake is a healthy compromise that everyone can live with. Take my hometown of Jacksonville, for instance. Named for Andrew Jackson. Not a perfect man by any stretch. Lots to not like about him, particularly with 150 years of retrospect. But Jacksonville is the name of my hometown. That’s where I’m from. I don’t think of Andrew Jackson when I think of home. I’ll be damned if anyone is going to make me change the name of my hometown. That’s how many Soldiers felt and still feel about these bases, particularly the ones that are the centers of their branch like Rucker is for mine.
