There is growing opposition to this weekend’s Army Birthday Parade…ordered by President Trump. Apparently because he ordered it, his opposition is finding all kinds of excuses to complain about it. It costs too much, it disrupts soldiers’ holiday weekend, it’s really about Trump as it is his birthday too. Hogwash.

These people are wrong.

Here’s why.

America needs this parade and frankly it needs more of them. Today’s military is drawn from a remarkably small percentage of the American public. Only about 1% of Americans are currently serving and only about 6% identify as Veterans. The result of this is an America that does not identify with the military, cannot understand what it does, and, sadly, many just don’t care. Whatever they need to know about the military, Hollywood will teach them. Parades can change this. It is an opportunity for thousands of citizens to see what an artillery piece looks like, what a tank sounds like, and what an MRAP looks like in the street. It allows citizens to see soldiers marching, looking sharp and standing tall. America meet your Army.

It is a training opportunity. The President gave an order. It will be carried out. Staffs begin planning. Units are alerted to begin preparations to participate. They will need to plan for travel, shipping of the vehicles, feeding, housing, and care of the troops. They will need to plan for time to set up, rehearse, and inspect. They will need spare parts for maintenance, special training for specific units, and leaders need time to check each soldier involved. In short, deploying to a parade in Washington DC (or anywhere else) is not that different from deploying to, say, the National Training Center for a month of training. It is just another mission to accomplish.

Further, it isn’t an excessive cost. The troops are going to be doing many of these things anyway, whether on their Post or in the field. They will still get paid. They will still eat. They will still have a place to sleep. Leaders will still be checking their soldiers. Maintenance expenses are factored into annual training forecasts. The only real delta in the budget is travel and that isn’t a huge cost, given the payoff. In short, the majority of the budget for the parade is sunk cost.

But there is a huge upside. Yes, troops will bitch about this stuff. It will be a couple of weeks of hurry up and wait. Multiple inspections, spot corrections, last minute changes, and boredom. But when the marching begins, most troops stand a bit straighter and take pride in their units. The soldiers I knew who did a major parade like this were in the DC parade after Desert Storm. All of them told me it was a real pain in the butt. But they also said that afterwards they were very glad to be a part of it. “Sir, it was a huge party!” Children coming up and giving a soldier a bouquet of flowers, strangers shaking their hands, hundreds of civilians saying thank you, and best of all, they never had to buy their own drinks.

Lastly, a parade is a huge recruiting event. When I commanded a Recruiting Company, any time I could get some equipment into a high school or a local civic event, I did so. The results were always positive and some were incredible.

America needs to renew its acquaintance with its soldiers. And soldiers need to see who it is they are fighting for. We cannot let this bond be broken.