$45 Million Military Parade
A PEACE EDUCATION CENTER STATEMENT
TERRY LINK | JUNE 9, 2025
The Lansing Area Peace Education Center, which for more than 50 years has been pushing back against increasing militarism in our society, is appalled at the ridiculousness of the president’s military parade, scheduled for June 14th on his birthday. Most legitimate democracies do not conduct military parades. These are usually affairs driven by autocrats like those in Russia, North Korea, Iran, and China. The parade is estimated to cost around $45 million. Putting on a $45 million military parade while pushing for deep cuts in veterans benefits is deeply hypocritical. In a recent poll of veterans 70% oppose using active duty troops in a parade; a strong majority also oppose cuts to the VA.
Putting on a $45 million military parade while pushing for deep cuts in veterans benefits is deeply hypocritical.
The current plan involves a tremendous scene in the center of Washington, D.C.: 28 M1A1 Abrams tanks (at 70 tons each, they are the heaviest in service); 28 Stryker armored personnel carriers; more than 100 other vehicles; a World War II-era B-25 bomber; 6,700 soldiers; 50 helicopters; 34 horses; two mules; and a dog.
The Army’s $45 million estimate is undoubtedly low. The dozens of planes and armored vehicles to be included in the parade are hugely expensive to operate, in part because of how much fuel they can burn through in a short time frame. It’s not clear that the Army estimate calculates costs that will happen outside of their budget – the costs of overtime for DC police assigned to the parade, the cost of fixing local streets chewed up by tanks, the costs of putting up 6,700 troops in Washington, spending on PR to promote the march, etc.
Even some Senate Republican leaders think this is not a good expenditure of funds – to celebrate the arms industry and to recruit impressionable young people into the war machine while we look for another enemy to rally against. We will continue to oppose the emphasis on militarism to address the many crises that we face as a single human family on this finite planet.
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