The Pentagon is proposing to stage a military parade in November with soldiers in historic uniforms and warplanes, but no tanks — a scaled-down version of the grand display President Trump wants, according to two officials familiar with the plan.
Pentagon officials have drafted a memo outlining a plan for a parade in Washington on Veterans Day, the officials said. It was first reported by CNN.
Trump earlier this year asked the Defense Department to plan a parade of the U.S. armed forces to celebrate military strength, much like France’s annual French Bastille Day parade that he and First Lady Melania Trump attended in July in Paris as the guests of French President Emmanuel Macron.
The memo suggests not using tanks and other heavy armored vehicles to avoid damaging roads in the capital, an official said. Using troops in historic uniforms is meant to celebrate the armed forces rather than display military might, another official said.
It is unclear whether Trump will be satisfied with the Pentagon plan, which one official said was still a work in progress. His budget director, Mick Mulvaney, estimated last month that the parade could cost as much as $30 million.
The Pentagon last staged a parade in Washington in 1991 to celebrate victory in the first Persian Gulf War, which saw a vast U.S.-led military coalition push Iraqi troops out of Kuwait.
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