"Army's 250th Anniversary" Topic

Wasn't there in person, but saw the last portion of the broadcast, and it was pretty awesome.

Agreed. I saw much of it— an impressive array not only of hardware but patriotic young men and women, willing to give all in service to our great nation. Good bless the US Army, and happy birthday!

A magnificent event. Made me proud!

A tremendous boon to recruitment. A far greater investment than two-mom cartoons.

It was a good day to celebrate 250 years of service of the men and women in the US Army.

It was a wonderful event, I wish I could have been there to see it in person. I think it was long overdue. I do not see Americans as "militaristic," however, I believe that it is good to celebrate that which protects our freedoms. I remember watching the military parade marching up Broadway when the troops returned home from the first Gulf War, it was a beautiful event. Being rather jaded, I assumed that the participants would have preferred to be anywhere but marching in an hours long parade. Speaking to people who marched afterwards, when all of lower Manhattan turned into a block party, everyone was proud and excited. I imagine that the participants yesterday felt the same.

I offer this, which came to me last night.

link

Having fun at Bayou Wars, so I did not watch it.

I remember reading Georgi Zhukov's memoirs where he described the various Allied armies marching through Berlin. Obviously he said the Russians (followed by the British) marched best, but he commented on how the US troops sauntered along, waving at the crowds!

'And I would rather be anywhere else but here today' Elvis Costello (Olivers Army).
Judging by the participants demeanour I think that's apt.

There's something in Jerry Pournelle--possibly in The Mercenary?--where a senior officer is complaining that his civlian masters keep trying to take away the bands. He says that when you take away the bands, the ceremonies and such, the troops forget they're soldiers, and become just men with guns. Not sure he's right, but a certain amount of ceremony strikes me as a prudent investment.

There were only 2 channels that broadcast it live, to my knowledge and from looking through the guide on the TV, "Fox" and "Newsmax". So those who complain and have previously said they never watch either channel, you obviously only saw what the MSM decided to highlight for you. I'm sure they were very "positive" in their coverage. 😂🙄

People either like or dislike marching in parades. I dislike them, but felt duty bound to march in Memorial Day and Veterans Day parades. Normally stop, start and hot… or rain.

CSPAN did a good coverage without all the Macy's Thanksgiving
Day parade chatter and without anything political. They had
an Army General and a Command Sergeant Major doing commentary
with whoever the host was, providing good information on
units, vehicles, equipment, period uniforms,history and progress of the US Army. I first was not going to watch after scanning the two channels mentioned above and then found CSPAN. Did a nice job for the 250th celebration as it was intended to be.

We watched it on Fox. They had great coverage.

'And I would rather be anywhere else but here today' Elvis Costello (Olivers Army).
Judging by the participants demeanour I think that's apt.

Some people see only what they want to see.

I saw soldiers who were proud of their calling, their participation, and their fellow soldiers. They were proud to be there, glad to be recognized and supported, and happy to let the American people they serve see them. I saw a group of recruits excited and eager to be sworn in on the birthday of the institution they were joining. I saw patriots and leaders, and the bravest of the brave and the best of the best. It was a celebration both by them all and for them all.

And for those who ramble (ignorantly) on about the awfulness of military parades, I would point out that we've ALWAYS had military parades. Indeed, military units frequently join celebratory parades, most notably those held on July 4– and have since the founding of this nation. (Not to mention flyovers of sporting events.) There's a reason the Armed Services have "parade dress" and "parade drill"— and neither are just to "show off." They exist for esprit d'corps, instilling discipline and planning and to harken back to the past, both the sacrifice and the camaraderie— "We do as they did," it says.

Besides which, those vehicles have to be used to be effectively maintained, as do the men and women who operate them. A vehicle that does nothing but sit deteriorates rapidly; and so do the skills of those tasked with using it. So you're gonna be driving them anyway— why not down the streets of our capitol, before the American people whom you serve? You're spending the fuel money either way. This way you boost morale, get the blessing of the people, and create the best damn recruiting advertisement since the Uncle Sam "I Want You!" poster. And it was carried live around the nation, and can be watched over and over via the Internet— and all of that exposure is free.

But Parzival, it didn't seem to me that any of the soldiers were in 'parade dress', nor were they carrying out 'parade drill'. Or so it seemed to this neutral viewer. I'm afraid I didn't see the pride that I'm sure they have in the army; frankly, it didn't impress. Carrying a drone aloft? Really? And it wasn't organised well with regards to the crowd – it did look thin, in part at least because of the apparently poor planning (limited access points very far from the viewing area left many either late or unable to see the parade). I feel it could have been a much more impressive show – one that would have done the US Army proud.
Perhaps the organisers felt the need to emphasise 'warfighting' but soldiers can carry out more than a single role.

You didn't see the historical uniforms? The bands? The cadets and ROTC contingents? The color guards?

Yes, I think the idea of marching in fatigues was indeed purposeful— "we ain't just for show, y'all— we're actually warriors, and these weapons are real." It was meant to show "the real Army," not just a pretty array of uniforms. (Not that Army dress these days is all that impressive. Drabbest dress uniforms in the service, frankly. Could stand an upgrade.)

And the drone was held aloft, yes, but the others were flying. But there's a limit on the flight time— my guess was that drone had reached the end of its flight battery charge, so its operator held it. Or he could have just been showing that controlling the drone was his job in the unit (and, effectively, his "weapon"). As it is, you wouldn't have all the drones up at the same time; you'd rotate the flight time and have at least one backup drone available— so he might have been following standard unit protocol.

For Washington, it was a decent crowd, all very patriotic, and not obviously partisan one way or the other.
But as it is, the crowds would have been kept away from or highly controlled near the platform that had the President, Vice President, First Lady, Secretary of Defense, Joint Chiefs, Secretary of State, Speaker of the House, Senate Majority Leader, various cabinet members, and others. It's a security situation exceeded only by the State of the Union— only this one is out-of-doors!
So, in retrospect, I'm not surprised that near where the primary cameras were the crowd was limited. All too many nuts out there, especially with turmoil and tumult around the world.
(And this parade was a message towards that, too.)

In the end, I remain proud of the parade and proud of the Army. We all should be, regardless of political persuasion.

Again, Happy Birthday, US Army. Keep standing proud— you deserve the accolades.

I didn't know that about the drones flying. Maybe a learning moment – they should be doing something more like a fly-past.

The parade was for el presidente to show off his "power", and celebrate his birthday. The anniversary was an afterthought.

nnascati, I've had several people tell me that they know know the real reasons for this or that Presidential policy, and they're not the publicly stated ones. Is he holding private conferences with you guys? (And do you believe what he's saying in them?) Alternatively, just how reliable is your psychic?

"Is he holding private conferences with you guys? "

Oh yeah!! Oh Yeah!! Well Rachel Maddow, Joy Behar, "The Daily Show" and Stephen Colbert ALL SAY IT'S TRUE!!! He's a tyrant! He wants to be King! He's a Fascist!! He's a Nazi!! He a racist!! He's an anti Semite!! He steals candy from babies!! He hates his Mother!! He sacrifices children to Beelzebub!! He doesn't wash his hands after going to the bathroom!! How do I know? MSNBC tells me it's so!! SO THERE!!! 😡 👅

😉

If the knuckleheads hadn't foamed-at-the-mouth so vehemently about protesting "No Kings," perhaps more spectators would have been willing to make the trek to the District -- despite the high probability of continued rain all weekend.

Well I read recruitment is up again.

ALL HAIL KING DONALD! LONG LIVE THE KING" (snark)

route step: a style of marching in which troops maintain prescribed intervals but are not required to keep in step or to maintain silence. Also called a route march.

I was hoping they had medics in the parade too. They should have had recruiters at the end with a big 1-800 number sign to call for enlisting.

Wolfhag

Wolfhag,
I picked up on the route step comment. Some of the units
looked more like that than marching. Saw a lot of "bouncing"
and some like they were diddybopping down the street. Other
units showed some good close order drill. Emphasized even
more when followed by the precision marching of the West
Point Cadets.

Bismarck,
It may have been that some of the units were not practiced enough to do actual close-order drill and marching. So rather than have them attempt it and fail on national TV, it was better to just let them diddy bop down the road like a gaggle of civilians. Probably only "professionals" like us really noticed or cared. Let's cut the Army some slack.

Yes, the President is the Commander-in-Chief of the military, whether you like it or not. Maybe some day we'll have an actual "victory" parade like we did 80 years ago.

Wolfhag