WASHINGTON (AP) — 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 service’s 250th birthday.
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. Until recently, the Army’s birthday festival plans did not include a massive parade, which officials say will cost tens of millions of dollars.
But Trump has long wanted a military parade, and discussions with the Pentagon about having one in conjunction with the birthday festival began less than two months ago.
The Army 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.”
The pricey parade comes as Trump and his Department of Government Efficiency, run by Elon Musk, have slashed federal government departments, personnel and programs, with thousands of workers losing their jobs, including civilians in the Defense Department.
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.
When asked about the parade Thursday, the White House did not respond, and Army officials said no decision had been made. While officials said there has now been a formal decision to proceed with the parade, there is still no specific cost estimate.
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.”
Army planning documents, obtained this week by the AP 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.
The plans note that while the parade will begin near the Pentagon, the heavy, tracked vehicles — which would include the Strykers — would be stationed near the Lincoln Memorial and join the procession there, so they will not go over the bridge from Virginia
City officials, including D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, acknowledged in April that the administration reached out to the city about holding a parade on June 14. At the time, she said that tanks rolling through the city’s streets “would not be good.”
“If military tanks were used, they should be accompanied with many millions of dollars to repair the roads,” she said.
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.
The late afternoon parade would be followed by a parachute jump by the Golden Knights, a concert and the fireworks. The planning documents also suggest that civilian participants would include historical vehicles and aircraft and two bands, along with people from veterans groups, military colleges and reenactor organizations.
According to the plans, the parade would be classified as a national special security event, and that request has been submitted by the National Park Service and is under review.
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. Among those were objections from city officials who said including tanks and other heavy armored vehicles would tear up the roads.
Trump said in a social media post in 2018 that he was canceling the event over the costs and accused local politicians of price gouging.
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