Two retired officers Wednesday shredded President Donald Trump's plan for a military parade, saying the idea "is about the president showing off," which flies in the face of the country's "military culture."
Retired Rear Admiral John Kirby and retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling ripped the president's order on CNN's "New Day" morning program.
"I don't like it, not at all," Kirby said. "This is not about showcasing our military. This is about the president showing off. It's all about his ego. And it's just an inappropriate use of military time, talent and resources."
"I did an informal Twitter survey last night, very unscientific. But I will tell you, it was about 100 to zero in terms of people, soldiers, former military saying they don't want any part of these kind of parades," Hertling said on CNN.
"The reason for it is . . . there are resource issues, implications for logistics. It would be extremely expensive. It would tear up the streets," Hertling said.
The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Trump ordered the Pentagon to plan a military parade after having been impressed with the one he attended in Paris over the summer.
"The marching orders were: I want a parade like the one in France," a military official told the Post. "This is being worked at the highest levels of the military."
Kirby suggested Wednesday that the military leaders at the Pentagon are trying to figure out a way "scope this in such a way that maybe it isn't such a waste of resources," because it's a bad idea.
"This is beneath us as a nation. We're the most powerful military on earth, we're very proud of that and rightly so," Kirby said. "We don't need to be parading our military hardware down Pennsylvania Avenue to show that to anybody."
Hertling agreed.
"It's not who we are as a military. The United States has a different military culture. We do not portray ourselves walking down the streets," Hertling said.
"Instead, we do the parades on Main Street in the middle of Idaho during the Fourth of July with flags taped to kids' handlebars. That's the kind of parades we have," Hertling said. "We don't have to portray military might because people know how strong we are, the world knows what we are. It's just not part of our culture."
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