Eye-Watering Bill for Trump Birthday Parade Includes Paint Job for Tanks
Armor including M1A2 tanks, Stryker armored fighting vehicles and M109 self-propelled howitzers have been arriving the capital for the parade—ostensibly to celebrate 250 years of the Army.
But the total cost was already disclosed to have hit $45 million, which will include repairing roads not designed to take heavy armor.
Now, the bill has been revealed to include sprucing up the materiel before it rolls in front of the president on his 79th birthday.
Retired Army Lt. General Mark Hertling, speaking Tuesday on MSNBC's Morning Joe, expressed reservations about the parade's scale and cost. To pull off the spectacle, the armor was brought by rail from bases across the country, while helicopters and planes will fly overhead during the parade.
Hertling commanded the 1st Armored Division in combat in Iraq in 2007 and 2008, has a Purple Heart and multiple Bronze Stars and Distinguished Service Medals.
'I'm personally, truth be told, not a parade kind of guy,' Hertling said. 'Even when I was a cadet at West Point, I hated parades.'
Initially conceived as a small event, the parade's scope expanded significantly, now involving nearly 8,000 soldiers marching alongside armored vehicles transported from various military bases across the country.
The birthday celebration could cost as much as $45 million in taxpayer dollars, with an extra $16 million reportedly set aside for road repairs.
Hertling described the parade as 'mission creep foisted upon the Army by politicians,' reflecting concerns that the military is being tasked with an expensive political spectacle.
The logistical challenges are significant, too. According to Hertling, the vehicles have been freshly painted to present a polished image—because of a previous, rushed deployment of military hardware that Hertling says 'looked bad' and 'were not a good reflection of the Army.'
'How much is this going to cost? It's going to cost a lot,' he said. 'Not only [do] those vehicles use a lot [of fuel], they have been transported from different military bases, [and] as you can see, looking at those tanks and Bradleys that you're showing right now, they've all been freshly painted,' he said.
'The last time a bunch of tanks were brought to Washington, D.C. it was at a last-minute time frame and they looked bad. I mean, they were not a good reflection of the army. So obviously the commanders and the soldiers who take a great deal of pride in their vehicles, want them to be looking well.'
He said all of this has contributed to the spiraling cost of the event.
'And, you know, that's created more cost other than the train load and the railhead and the helicopters [that] are going to be flying overhead and the and the fuel that's going to be used and the support for the almost 8,000 soldiers that are going to be marching inside of that column with the other vehicles to represent wars that the nation has fought in different period dress and uniforms.
'It was a good idea by the army to celebrate this and use it as a recruiting tool. It's just generated a lot more interest because of the connection with the president's birthday, that's for sure.'
While the Army has defended the event as a recruiting tool and a celebration of the nation's military heritage, the timing—coinciding with the president's birthday—has raised questions about the parade's true purpose.
Meanwhile, as much as $16 million has been earmarked for filling in the damage left by tanks rumbling down civilian streets, according to U.S. military officials.
Steel plates at least an inch thick will be laid across sections of the route where M1A1 Abrams tanks, each weighing around 140,000 pounds, and other treaded vehicles will make turns. Similar protection will not be laid out along straight sections of the roadway.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has previously voiced her concerns about damage to city streets. 'Military tanks on our streets would not be good,' she said at an April 7 news conference. 'If military tanks were used, they should be accompanied by many millions of dollars to repair the roads.'
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