# US Military Parade **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 7, 2018, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-parade/808340 "2018-02-07T01:14:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-parade/808340/101 "2018-02-08T05:50:56Z")
There are parading armies, and there are fighting armies. Until now, the U.S. has always had the former. ---
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-parade/808340/102 "2018-02-08T05:55:00Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-parade/808340/103 "2018-02-08T06:09:14Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > There are parading armies, and there are fighting armies. Until now, the U.S. has always had the former. The IDF was a parading Army until 1973 if wiki is to be believed. They still have static displays per wiki. The British have a whole military formation dedicated to public duties. Of all the crackpot ideas that have been floated by Trump & Co, this does not even make the top 1000. ETA: I do wonder what people would think if this had been suggested by Obama, or Bill Clinton. Approval probably. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-parade/808340/104 "2018-02-08T06:09:50Z")
Hey! Leave Hawaiian barbecue out of this! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-parade/808340/105 "2018-02-08T06:26:45Z")
[North Korea to hold military parade ahead of Winter Olympics](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42971097) Geesh, are we doing this just to one-up North Korea? If so, the the Pentagon has it right: set a date as far out in the future as possible and see if the whole thing is forgotten. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-parade/808340/106 "2018-02-08T06:28:15Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > I do wonder what people would think if this had been suggested by Obama, or Bill Clinton. Approval probably. Why the fuck would you think that? ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-parade/808340/107 "2018-02-08T06:29:19Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Hey! Leave Hawaiian barbecue out of this! :mad: Sorry, it was my understanding that a proper poll is supposed to have a food option. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-parade/808340/108 "2018-02-08T06:35:35Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Hey! Leave Hawaiian barbecue out of this! :mad: But I want to try it! I’ve never tried it! What do you have against foreigners deprived of barbecue? ☹ ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-parade/808340/109 "2018-02-08T10:21:31Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > You mean the parade of drunk sailors in Manhattan? > [@msmith537](#): > > I mean where every bar stool in Midtown is covered in seamen. Every year, Portland gets a small fleet of Navy/Coast Guard ships to come in for the Rose Festival. The highlight of that is the hookers and strippers who go out in small boats when the fleet comes in to give our boys in blue a sneak preview of their wares. Breasts are bared and for all I know, some may even drop their pants. Fun for the whole family… ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-parade/808340/110 "2018-02-08T10:33:49Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > … > > ETA: I do wonder what people would think if this had been suggested by Obama, or Bill Clinton. Approval probably. Obama had 8 years to suggest this, and he never did. He wouldn’t, and he didn’t. Wonder why? ETA: Bill had 8 of his own, too. Apply above point accordingly. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-parade/808340/111 "2018-02-08T12:24:50Z")
The parade would send two messages to the world: “We have a huge military” which everybody knows and “we’re itching to use it” which is the wrong message to send. Military parades are for repressive regimes, a parade says we’re well on their way. I say thanks but no tanks. I say have a counter-demonstration along the parade route. Everybody dress up like hippies and hold up signs saying love not war, flash the peace sign or whatever finger(s) seem appropriate. Hopefully this will come after the big blue wave and it will be the first of the death throes of a dying regime. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-parade/808340/112 "2018-02-08T13:36:23Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Every year, Portland gets a small fleet of Navy/Coast Guard ships to come in for the Rose Festival. The highlight of that is the hookers and strippers who go out in small boats when the fleet comes in to give our boys in blue a sneak preview of their wares. Breasts are bared and for all I know, some may even drop their pants. Fun for the whole family… That sounds like the RN in the nineteenth century. ---
**Author:** ![Delicious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@Delicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delicious)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-parade/808340/113 "2018-02-08T13:37:47Z")
I see that you’ve all missed the genius of Trump’s plan. \*This \*is how he’s going to catch North Korea unawares; he gathers up loads of military under the seemingly innocent guise of a military parade but then, once they reach the end of the parade route, they just keep on marching! They march all night, all the way to Pyongyang, and deliver freedom and democracy by the bucketful! Then a quick march north to take back all the jobs that China took and back home in time for Christmas. There’s no way Kim will see it coming. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-parade/808340/114 "2018-02-08T13:52:52Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > The parade would send two messages to the world: “We have a huge military” which everybody knows and “we’re itching to use it” which is the wrong message to send… I think Iraq made clear to the world that we’re itching to use our military. As with most things Trump, the parade is a symptom, not the problem. We are becoming a third world country. A lot of Americans think third world means chickens running around the street and malnourished kids (we have plenty of both in the US, btw). But more than anything, third world is a nation of haves and have nots with no one in the middle. Politics is a zero sum game and if you’re side is out of power, then you’re fucked. It’s a nation where there aren’t many national institutions that have broad legitimacy beyond the military. Trump and his parade aren’t a problem because they’re an aberration, they’re a problem because they are the logical conclusion of our recent history. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-parade/808340/115 "2018-02-08T13:54:17Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > A lot of Americans think third world means chickens running around the street and malnourished kids (we have plenty of both in the US, btw). I thought it meant aligned neither with the USA or the USSR. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-parade/808340/116 "2018-02-08T14:47:13Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I thought it meant aligned neither with the USA or the USSR. That was certainly the origin of the term and was true in the last century, but its meaning has evolved. In it’s current usage, it is a pejorative term that often means a country with poorly developed political and social institutions; great income disparity and a lack of resiliency in its government and economy. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-parade/808340/117 "2018-02-08T14:58:09Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > That was certainly the origin of the term and was true in the last century, but its meaning has evolved. > > In it’s current usage, it is a pejorative term that often means a country with **poorly developed political and social institutions; great income disparity and a lack of resiliency in its government and economy**. But I thought the US was a first-world nation! I kid, I kid. I think. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-parade/808340/118 "2018-02-08T15:01:24Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > But I thought the US was a first-world nation! > > I kid, I kid. I think. Three is _more_ than one. #MABR! ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-parade/808340/119 "2018-02-08T15:02:32Z")
I go to air shows and love to see military hardware on display, but would not do so in Trump’s name. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-parade/808340/120 "2018-02-08T15:06:56Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > ETA: I do wonder what people would think if this had been suggested by Obama, or Bill Clinton. Approval probably. I’d wonder when Obama got obsessed with displays of jingoism and think it was a stupid waste of money but not the end of the world. Pretty much my same opinion here except that Trump has always been about wasting money on jingoism so the first part is answered. Honestly, I stopped getting excited about parades around ten years old. No matter who is throwing them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-parade/808340.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-military-parade/808340.md?page=7)