Ooh, how about the 5th of never do this. I don’t even know what to think of this country anymore. It literally feels like it’s being run by the seat of their pants.
The Pentagon said in a Thursday statement that it would "explore opportunities" in 2019...
Ooh, how about the 5th of never do this.
I don’t even know what to think of this country anymore. It literally feels like it’s being run by the seat of their pants.
The most shocking part of this article to me is $92 million. What a waste of $92 million. Imagine all the research you could do with funding like that, all the people you could feed or educate, or...
The most shocking part of this article to me is $92 million. What a waste of $92 million. Imagine all the research you could do with funding like that, all the people you could feed or educate, or all the clean energy you could invest in. We truly live in a wasteful world.
As someone in the military who has had to arrange huge operations, it's more expensive than you'd think. You're right that it's virtually all logistical. Logistics for a event like that is the...
As someone in the military who has had to arrange huge operations, it's more expensive than you'd think.
You're right that it's virtually all logistical. Logistics for a event like that is the entire thing though. First you need to move troops from their home station to Washington DC. They need to be paid for that time, and during that time, the things they normally do will have to be covered by other people that wouldn't normally get paid (Contractors/Reservists). Then you need to actually get them there. This means fueling jets, contracting busses, rental cars, etc. If you want equipment (as the president does), you need to contract tractor trailers to haul them there, or generate missions for the air force to fly cargo jets there. This is expensive enough for things like HMMWVs, or vehicles built on HMMWV platforms, but for things like self propelled artillery, MRAPs, IFVs, and MBTs, the cost is outrageously expensive because of how large and heavy they are. If you're talking about a massive, USSR style military parade with mobile launchers and whatnot, it's tens of millions just for transportation alone.
After you get the troops there, you have to house and feed them, because there are probably going to be days if not weeks of rehearsals. That means hotel rooms for the officers, and probably some sort of building that you can rent out for the lower enlisted troops.
Once all that's done, you need to pay police to work overtime to shut down roads, ensure that no one tries to steal a tank, etc. There are also other troops that will provide security, and the Air Force will be in charge of making sure the airspace is clear.
There are dozens of other considerations as well. Media campaigns about the thing, the cost and implications of diverting all that traffic, the gap in readiness you have from moving all those troops from where they're supposed to be, troops getting bored and causing trouble in the city, etc. The price is not at all shocking to me, and it's one of the many reasons that most people in the military think this idea is incredibly stupid.
I don't know about tanks, but some fighter jets cost $50,000+ per hour to fly. That's for fuel, a highly trained team to fly it, and a large highly trained team to inspect and turn around an...
I don't know about tanks, but some fighter jets cost $50,000+ per hour to fly. That's for fuel, a highly trained team to fly it, and a large highly trained team to inspect and turn around an enormously complex and fragile aircraft. So for a decent sized parade, you're spending several million dollars just on getting the planes there, flying the parade, and flying them back to base.
But also, the huge cost estimate combined with "exploring opportunities in 2019" makes it sound like the Pentagon is just hoping Trump will forget about it and they won't have to do it.
Tanks don't cost that much to operate, but moving them is another story. Tanks will have to be shipped by rail or road into DC if you want a significant number of them. It's a huge logistic operation.
Tanks don't cost that much to operate, but moving them is another story. Tanks will have to be shipped by rail or road into DC if you want a significant number of them. It's a huge logistic operation.
And no way is the President going to be happy with eight tanks. Not after seeing the French Bastille Day parade: "Going to have to try to top it" doesn't sound like eight tanks. He's imagining...
And no way is the President going to be happy with eight tanks. Not after seeing the French Bastille Day parade:
In September, Trump met with French President Emmanuel Macron and recalled how much he enjoyed watching the parade. "It was a tremendous day, and to a large extent because of what I witnessed, we may do something like that on July 4 in Washington down Pennsylvania Avenue," Trump said.
"We're going to have to try to top it, but we have a lot of planes going over and a lot of military might, and it was really a beautiful thing to see, and representatives from different wars and different uniforms," he added.
"Going to have to try to top it" doesn't sound like eight tanks. He's imagining those old USSR parades of missiles for miles. That $92 million is likely to balloon further if he gets what he wants, which is a show of American military might to impress the entire world—he's not going to be happy with less.
I've seen claims suggesting that money could feed all of our homeless veterans for 9 months. I would much rather see $92 million go towards something such as that than some stupid parade for a...
I've seen claims suggesting that money could feed all of our homeless veterans for 9 months. I would much rather see $92 million go towards something such as that than some stupid parade for a military that is unquestionably larger than any other nation. It would just be $92 million spent to satisfy Trump's ego.
Not just that, but again he solved a problem that he had created! If it wasn’t for this asinine idea, there would have been no cost at all to begin with. Smh vigorously. If this is his...
Not just that, but again he solved a problem that he had created! If it wasn’t for this asinine idea, there would have been no cost at all to begin with. Smh vigorously.
If this is his understanding of how budgets work, then it’s no wonder he went bankrupt in so many ventures.
Ooh, how about the 5th of never do this.
I don’t even know what to think of this country anymore. It literally feels like it’s being run by the seat of their pants.
At this rate I wonder what will come first, impeachment or the parade?
That depends entirely on how well the democrats do this November. Make sure to vote everyone!
The most shocking part of this article to me is $92 million. What a waste of $92 million. Imagine all the research you could do with funding like that, all the people you could feed or educate, or all the clean energy you could invest in. We truly live in a wasteful world.
As someone in the military who has had to arrange huge operations, it's more expensive than you'd think.
You're right that it's virtually all logistical. Logistics for a event like that is the entire thing though. First you need to move troops from their home station to Washington DC. They need to be paid for that time, and during that time, the things they normally do will have to be covered by other people that wouldn't normally get paid (Contractors/Reservists). Then you need to actually get them there. This means fueling jets, contracting busses, rental cars, etc. If you want equipment (as the president does), you need to contract tractor trailers to haul them there, or generate missions for the air force to fly cargo jets there. This is expensive enough for things like HMMWVs, or vehicles built on HMMWV platforms, but for things like self propelled artillery, MRAPs, IFVs, and MBTs, the cost is outrageously expensive because of how large and heavy they are. If you're talking about a massive, USSR style military parade with mobile launchers and whatnot, it's tens of millions just for transportation alone.
After you get the troops there, you have to house and feed them, because there are probably going to be days if not weeks of rehearsals. That means hotel rooms for the officers, and probably some sort of building that you can rent out for the lower enlisted troops.
Once all that's done, you need to pay police to work overtime to shut down roads, ensure that no one tries to steal a tank, etc. There are also other troops that will provide security, and the Air Force will be in charge of making sure the airspace is clear.
There are dozens of other considerations as well. Media campaigns about the thing, the cost and implications of diverting all that traffic, the gap in readiness you have from moving all those troops from where they're supposed to be, troops getting bored and causing trouble in the city, etc. The price is not at all shocking to me, and it's one of the many reasons that most people in the military think this idea is incredibly stupid.
I don't know about tanks, but some fighter jets cost $50,000+ per hour to fly. That's for fuel, a highly trained team to fly it, and a large highly trained team to inspect and turn around an enormously complex and fragile aircraft. So for a decent sized parade, you're spending several million dollars just on getting the planes there, flying the parade, and flying them back to base.
But also, the huge cost estimate combined with "exploring opportunities in 2019" makes it sound like the Pentagon is just hoping Trump will forget about it and they won't have to do it.
Tanks don't cost that much to operate, but moving them is another story. Tanks will have to be shipped by rail or road into DC if you want a significant number of them. It's a huge logistic operation.
And no way is the President going to be happy with eight tanks. Not after seeing the French Bastille Day parade:
"Going to have to try to top it" doesn't sound like eight tanks. He's imagining those old USSR parades of missiles for miles. That $92 million is likely to balloon further if he gets what he wants, which is a show of American military might to impress the entire world—he's not going to be happy with less.
I've seen claims suggesting that money could feed all of our homeless veterans for 9 months. I would much rather see $92 million go towards something such as that than some stupid parade for a military that is unquestionably larger than any other nation. It would just be $92 million spent to satisfy Trump's ego.
And it's cancelled!
NY Times: Trump Cancels Military Parade, Blaming Washington Officials for Inflating Costs
Outline.com link
He is literally a child.
Not just that, but again he solved a problem that he had created! If it wasn’t for this asinine idea, there would have been no cost at all to begin with. Smh vigorously.
If this is his understanding of how budgets work, then it’s no wonder he went bankrupt in so many ventures.