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Trump coveted a military spectacle but his parade proved underwhelming: ‘Just kind of lame’
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2025
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Thats all nice what you said but its far more likely the members of the army just didnt care as much rather than they are incapable of marching in unison.
I know this from experience. Perfect formation marching must be drilled constantly. The US military does not waste its time with it because it is useless beyond Basic Training.
I agree that they clearly didn't want to be at his stupid little parade. Yes, they half-assed it. It just blows my mind that Trump clearly expected pageantry when our military has never once put on such a show.
As do I. There is no active duty enlisted person not capable of marching down a street in step in a reasonably square block. (And I would assume this also true for officers but I wouldn't know that.)
We're not talking about doing a halftime show in a marching band. It takes an hour of instruction and practice to do it reasonably well.
Sorry if it seems like I'm jumping on you, but I'm stunned at the number of folks scratching their heads like they aren't sure if the soldiers were intentionally out of step or not, and you are just the first one I've replied to. They were intentionally out of step.
I'm not saying they weren't intentionally out of step (I definitely would have been) but based on my experience also in the military, as well as high school marching band, many people suck at it even after weeks of practice and my band director cared way about it than any NCO ever did, either in boot camp or beyond. They taught us how to align left and right, and how to march around a corner in formation. We did that until the end of boot camp and then never again. We got our asses handed to us for all kinds of minor infractions, but never once did I see anybody get even scolded for being out of step.
Frankly, it used to drive me crazy.
No worries dude, it doesn't feel like you're jumping on me. Maybe they were just way more lax about it in the Navy. When it came to marching, in my experience they barely gave a fuck.
One thing that seems pretty telling to me, and isn't really being mentioned, is that I didn't see any of them in dress uniforms. Weren't they all in camo?
I was also USN, but it occurred to me after reading your post that maybe (I'm effing old) they do care about it less now than when I was in. To be clear - I too never marched after boot camp and A school, but if I'd been ordered to go be in a parade I'm sure we could have pulled it off.
Thanks! 🙂 And do you still cringe when you hear someone say "Hey Shipmate?" It's been decades and I do!
My boot camp division actually did march in formation during Milwaukee's 4th of July parade. So we weren't too bad at it really.
I still treasure the sound of disappointed children when I expertly avoided stepping in a pile of horse shit.
Lol, yes I do!