(Reuters) -A long-planned celebration in Washington for the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary will coincide with President Donald Trump’s 79th birthday on June 14. Trump will play a major role in the celebrations, which have been altered to include a parade.
Here is everything we know so far:
WHERE IS THE CELEBRATION TAKING PLACE?
The celebrations will take place in and around Washington, D.C., starting during the first week of June, according to a planning document seen by Reuters.
On June 14 there will be a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in the morning, followed by a fitness competition and an Army birthday festival on the National Mall in Washington. The festival will include equipment displays and military demonstrations.
The day will culminate with a parade through the city and an enlistment and re-enlistment ceremony presided over by Trump and fireworks.
WHAT EQUIPMENT IS BEING BROUGHT INTO THE CITY?
The U.S. Army is bringing 6,500 troops into Washington, along with 150 vehicles and 50 aircraft for the celebration. The vehicles are set to be moved to the city on trains, while the helicopters will fly in.
Reuters has reported that as many as 25 M1 Abrams tanks will feature in the parade.
HOW MUCH IS THIS GOING TO COST?
The twin celebrations will cost the U.S. Army between $25 million and $45 million, U.S. officials have told Reuters. That includes the parade itself as well as the cost of moving equipment and housing and feeding the troops.
The cost was several million dollars more than it would have been without a parade, the officials said.
The officials’ latest estimates exclude costs the city of Washington would have to bear, like trash cleanup or any road repairs for damage from the heavy tanks.
WHAT IS THE CONTROVERSY OVER THE PARADE?
Democratic lawmakers have said that Trump is taking over the Army’s birthday for himself.
“This is Trump. This is all about his ego and making everything ‘him’, which is, I think, a discredit to the military, the Army,” Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said.
Representative Steve Cohen, a Democrat from Tennessee, introduced a bill to prohibit the use of public funds for “displays of military force for personal glorification.”
Officials have told Reuters that the planning for the Army’s 250th birthday celebration started last year – before Trump won the November presidential election.
The White House has said the administration was planning a historic celebration for the Army’s 250th birthday. The Army was established on June 14, 1775, more than a year before the Declaration of Independence.
“As one of the first events of the year-long celebration of our 250th anniversary, this commemorative parade will be a fitting tribute to the service, sacrifice and selflessness of the brave men and women who have worn the uniform,” White House Domestic Policy Council Director Vince Haley said.
Trump has made no secret of his desire to hold military parades in the past.
During his first administration, he ordered the Pentagon to look into a display of military might after a 2017 trip to France where he and French President Emmanuel Macron reviewed that country’s defense forces marching down the Avenue des Champs-Elysees in Paris.
Trump ultimately settled for a display of tanks and other armored vehicles during a July Fourth celebration in 2019 in Washington.
WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF PARADES IN THE UNITED STATES?
Critics have called a parade an authoritarian display of power that is wasteful, especially as Trump slashes costs throughout the federal government.
Military parades in the United States are generally rare. Such parades in other countries are usually staged to celebrate victories in battle or showcase military might.
In 1991, tanks and thousands of troops paraded through Washington to celebrate the ousting of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s army from Kuwait in the Gulf War.
(Reporting by Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart; Editing by Ross Colvin and Howard Goller)
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