There is something special about a parade. For almost two decades now, we have seen this in Williamsport with the Grand Slam Parade in August. That parade welcomes the 20 teams from around the world that will be playing each other in the Little League World Series. The popularity of the parade is evidenced by the 40,000+ people in attendance last year.
Parades are for special events, which is what President Donald Trump thought when he authorized the 250th Anniversary Parade for the US Army in Washington on June 14th of this year. This is also President Trump’s 79th birthday.
It is certainly a great time to highlight the oldest of the six military branches of our country. As the name of the parade highlights, this year will be the 250th anniversary of the United States Army.
The American colonists realized they would need more than Minute Men to gain their freedom against Great Britain. Thus, the Continental Army was founded by the Second Continental Congress on June 14, 1775, and at the same time appointed George Washington as their Commander-in-Chief.
Military units are either training for combat or engaging in combat, but there are times when they present themselves to the public, and parades fit that bill.
However, a military parade in Washington, is quite rare. The last was on June 8, 1991, which was to celebrate the conclusion of the Gulf War.
It featured General Norman Schwarzkopf Jr., the commander of the Desert Storm forces, leading the parade along Constitution Avenue, Pennsylvania Avenue, and across the Memorial Bridge with some 8,000 Desert Storm troops marching behind him. It was quite popular, given that 200,000 people lined up to watch. That National Victory Celebration Parade was the largest military parade since World War II.
Somewhat smaller, there will be 6,700 US Army soldiers in this upcoming parade, representing quite a number of others in the US Army’s uniform. There are 450,000 active-duty personnel, almost 500,000 reserve troops, and 325,000 in the Army National Guard. This total number is nearly twice as many as the rest of the four service branches put together.
However, recent years have been harder and harder to get new recruits. The US Department of Defense reported that the 2023 fiscal year was the “toughest recruitment year for the Military Services since the inception of the All-volunteer Force.”
Through the years, the US Army has used various slogans to inspire recruitment, from “I want YOU for U. S. Army” in World War II to “Be All That You Can Be” from 1980-2000, “Army of ONE” from 2001-2006, “Army Strong” from 2006-2018, and then “Warriors Wanted” in 2018 which was then changed to “What’s Your Warrior” in 2023.
However, the official motto of the US Army has not changed for 250 years, “This We’ll Defend.” This motto goes back to the Revolutionary War and reflects the Army’s core mission of safeguarding the nation and protecting its citizens. The phrase is often depicted on the Army flag and emblem, signifying the Army’s commitment to readiness and defense.
Since President Trump has taken office, the United States military has seen its biggest recruitment surge in more than a decade. The Army, in particular, is crushing it.
As of mid-April, the military’s largest branch had already enlisted more than 51,000 recruits, or roughly 85 percent of its 61,000-recruit target for fiscal year 2025. At this point last year, the Army had hit just 64 percent of its goal. For the first time in some years, there’s a real groundswell of young people eager to join up.
Of course, in our current mentality of politics, there is a lot of pushback from the Democratic side of the aisle to bash the parade for being too expensive, which is estimated to be around $25 million. Perhaps we can afford it now that our current government is finding overspending across the board, such as the US Department of Labor’s discovery of $382 million in fraudulent unemployment payments to tens of thousands of individuals, many with forged birthdays that are for people as old as 150 years, infants, and some who are not even born yet!
So — let’s enjoy this rare experience. Fox News will cover the parade and certainly other media sources. The parade starts at 6:30 p.m. and will be going on Constitution Avenue, specifically from 15th to 23rd Street.
As the English poet Philip James Bailey once said, “Man is a military animal, glories in gunpowder, and loves parades.”
Happy Anniversary to the US Army!
