Today, The United States Army celebrates its 250th Anniversary. Americans should know that my beloved Army, founded June 14, 1775, is not only the senior military service, it also predates our American Declaration of Independence on July 4th 1776, by over a year.
President Trump has elected to celebrate this in a manner deserving of the sacrifice by those who served, both in peace and war, and those who are still serving today. In addition to events such as a visit to Fort Bragg (name properly restored) the Commander In Chief decided to showcase our Army with a military parade in Washington, DC. And what is a military parade without hardware; Cannons, Armored Personnel Carriers and of course, Tanks.
Not surprisingly, the left immediately jumped on this as a demonstration of Stalinism, Hitlerism or some such. Never known for their frugality with taxpayer-provided funds, leftists pretended to balk at the cost, somewhere between 25 and 45 million. Finally, the party known for happily paying 40 percent more for roads than necessary (see Davis Bacon Act) is trying to convince us that they are somehow very concerned that the tanks and other tracked vehicles in the parade, will tear up the streets.
Fake concerns with image or cost have been addressed quite effectively elsewhere, so I’ll confine myself with the “tearing up DC streets,” issue. I’ll begin with my good friend and sometime contributor to AFNN, Timothy Shea, who by the way, is a pretty decent pundit in his own right. Timbo called me up Thursday to talk about this very issue, after being contacted by another friend. Here is an excerpt.
A friend [of Shea] in South Dakota (Tsgt. David Fransen, USAF/USN, Ret.) relayed how so many Leftists on Facebook have suddenly become civil engineers, and he noted their overwrought concern for the structural integrity of DC roadways in advance of this Saturday’s parade celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States Army.
My comment on that concern is short and sweet. As a proud graduate of this nation’s very first and ever-finest Engineering School, the United States Military Academy at West Point, I can assure these insincere civilians that the Army knows a thing or two about civil engineering, about tanks, and about parades. If they don’t want to take my word, perhaps they should have a word with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Our big, beautiful tanks are equipped with rubber pads on the treads to avoid any such damage to road surfaces that the fear-mongers are mewling about. Additionally, the pivot steer functionality, which locks the tread on one side to enable a tracked vehicle to “turn on a dime,” and can indeed mar the macadam, is usually disabled whenever our tanks or other tracked vehicles are used outside of combat conditions.
Moreover, the Army has almost certainly directed that any tracked vehicle used in this event, have brand spanking new tracks & pads. I am also certain that there has been some very “directed and focused leadership” towards the drivers and tank commanders involved in this important display of our Army and our nation’s might.
The video below, shows the “joyful” experience crews suffer while changing track, as did I back in the day…when I was decades younger and 50 pounds lighter. There are several closeups where you can see the rubber pads affixed to the tank track.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fq9FhyLrjHE
Bottom line. The Army’s got this folks. Rest easy, dear Democrats. Sit back, relax, and soak in Saturday’s national celebration of Flag Day, the U.S. Army’s semiquincentennial, and President Donald John Trump’s 79th birthday!
Late Edit: I’m quite confident that this one parade won’t harm DC streets. However, if such an event became a daily, or even monthly event, the weight of the tanks over time, would indeed degrade the streets a lot faster than normal civilian traffic. That’s why on military bases that have tanks stationed there, you’ll see signs such as these, which indicate a section of road constructed of reinforce concrete to allow tanks to cross from one side to the other.
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