Veterans are divided over the Army's big parade, being held on Trump's birthday [View all]
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — James McDonough served in the U.S. Army for 27 years, fighting in Vietnam and delivering humanitarian aid to Rwanda. For him, Saturday’s military parade in Washington for the Army’s 250th anniversary — coinciding with President Donald Trump’s birthday — is about the resilience of a vital institution and the nation it serves.
“The soldiers marching that day represent all of that history,” said McDonough, 78, of Crofton, Maryland. “They don’t represent a single day. They don’t represent a single person. It’s the American Army still standing straight, walking tall, ready to defend our country.”
Christopher Purdy, an Army veteran who served in Iraq, called the parade a facade that paints over some of the Republican president’s policies that have targeted military veterans and current service members, including cuts at the Department of Veterans Affairs and a ban on transgender troops.
Purdy said the parade, long sought by Trump, will needlessly display U.S. military might on the president’s 79th birthday.
https://apnews.com/article/military-parade-army-trump-birthday-veterans-0912f4009b4d9fc157b35bb9edf9375a
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