A memo with a detailed plan about President Donald Trump’s proposed military parade that is scheduled for Veterans Day has been issued by the Pentagon.
According to CNN, the memo shows that the parade will start from the White House and will end at the Capitol building. Soldiers dressed in period uniforms will be guarding Trump as he attends the event. The memo also says that Trump will be surrounded by veterans and Medal of Honor recipients in the Capitol’s reviewing area.
CNN reported that the Defense Department sent the memo to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Thursday.
The release of the memo comes after Trump’s national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, gave the president several pieces of advice on how the parade will be organized in a meeting at the Pentagon last month.
The Joint Staff are going to be the ones planning the event in a way that integrates the parade into Washington’s planned Veterans Day festivities on November 11. Also in the memo was stated that the Northern Command is going to be responsible for executing the event.
The parade will feature a “heavy air component” of planes which will fly over onlookers at the end of the demonstration, also there is a possibility that the parade might include older aircraft. Together with the antique planes, a band of soldiers in Revolutionary War period uniforms will be marching in the parade.
However, the memo stated that the parade will not include tanks but only wheeled vehicles.
The reason for this is that several Pentagon officials had expressed doubts about tanks rolling through downtown Washington, D.C., fearing about the heavy machinery damaging the roads.
Trump requested the parade which is meant to demonstrate the military power of America after witnessing the Bastille Day parade in France last summer.
Pentagon officials estimated the cost to be between $10 million and $30 million. But a group of Republican lawmakers criticized Trump over the parade, suggesting that the funds could be better spent on military supplies or veterans services.
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