ABOUT THIS DAMNED PARADE

 In a private group that I belong to, someone posted this query:

I have a question for any of the veterans in this group who would be kind enough to educate me. First of all, Thank You for your service.
And I am not making any judgment calls on this. I am just very curious. What do you think about the military parade that is supposed to happen in June? As a veteran, do you feel honored by this parade? I am not a veteran. And neither was my husband so I do not have a really good understanding of how this type of event would make you feel.

This was my response:

As a Regular Army vet (and former Spec 5) from the seventies, and as the son of a WWII sergeant who won four bronze stars in the fight against fascism in Europe, I feel angry that Trump is usurping the 250^th anniversary of the Army to celebrate, not the Army, but himself. It is especially upsetting when he is a serial draft-dodger, and someone who has repeatedly disparaged us and our brothers-and-sisters-in-arms both living and dead.

A man who said Navy pilot John McCain, held and tortured for years on end in Vietnam, wasn't a hero because he got caught; a man who referred to Army fallen in a French war-dead cemetery as suckers and losers; a man who stood in Arlington beside a decorated Marine general who had lost a son of his own in combat and said, "I don't get it. What was in it for them."

This man isn't fit to pronounce the NAME of the US Army, let alone be its commander-in-chief, and less still to hitchhike on an Army day of celebration and respect to hold a narcissistic, self-serving celebration for his own birthday, in which thousands of troops are forced to participate. This is especially true when the 250th anniversary of the US Army should be a celebration of democracy and of the hundreds of thousands who have defended it with their lives, patriotism and sacrifice, not a day of sadness on which he rubs our noses in the authoritarian regime that he has created.

 

That's how I feel about it.