Happens before that. Our society worships the military. It’s in our movies and TV shows. It’s on display at every sport stadium. It’s for sale on every toy aisle. It’s how you drag yourself out of poverty and make something with your life.

18 year olds sign up to be heroes because we’ve told them since childhood that’s what soldiers are. They’re convinced that they’ll be good guys.

Um… That is nothing like the pageantry they put on on North Korea and China.

No, you can NOT learn to march like they do in North Korea or China and have any time left in your day to do an actual job or even train to fight. That crap takes time.

My boot camp division actually did march in formation during Milwaukee’s 4th of July parade. So we weren’t too bad at it really.

I still treasure the sound of disappointed children when I expertly avoided stepping in a pile of horse shit.

Lol, yes I do!

I’m not saying they weren’t intentionally out of step (I definitely would have been) but based on my experience also in the military, as well as high school marching band, many people suck at it even after weeks of practice and my band director cared way about it than any NCO ever did, either in boot camp or beyond. They taught us how to align left and right, and how to march around a corner in formation. We did that until the end of boot camp and then never again. We got our asses handed to us for all kinds of minor infractions, but never once did I see anybody get even scolded for being out of step.

Frankly, it used to drive me crazy.

No worries dude, it doesn’t feel like you’re jumping on me. Maybe they were just way more lax about it in the Navy. When it came to marching, in my experience they barely gave a fuck.

One thing that seems pretty telling to me, and isn’t really being mentioned, is that I didn’t see any of them in dress uniforms. Weren’t they all in camo?

Suits me fine too.

Oh yeah? Prove it!

Highest estimate I’ve heard is 13M. Can’t back it up, but I wouldn’t be surprised. There were 100 in my little town, and we got way more honks of support than rude fingers.

So did I. Most people who sign up don’t realize that we are seldom the good guys.

I know that’s what I’d have done.

What Trump wanted far exceeds marching in step. But even just that requires regular practice, which the US military simply does not bother with. Exceptions being a few ceremonial guards.

I know this from experience. Perfect formation marching must be drilled constantly. The US military does not waste its time with it because it is useless beyond Basic Training.

I agree that they clearly didn’t want to be at his stupid little parade. Yes, they half-assed it. It just blows my mind that Trump clearly expected pageantry when our military has never once put on such a show.

The American military doesn’t train to put on parade theatre for a despot. No high stepping, no elaborate formations or movements. None of that pointless bullshit. If you see a military parade from NK or China achieving dazzling perfect performances, while impressive, that’s all it is; a visual performance. All they do is practice for those events. Those are not uniforms. They’re costumes. Those are not soldiers. They’re a dance troupe. These are completely different skillsets. Soldiers don’t need to know how to dance perfectly in formation. They storm the objective, execute the mission, and get the fuck out. You might as well send a marching band into combat, because that’s all they would become.

It’s funny how they want to force the US military into performing flamboyant pageantry, while also kicking out the gays.

All this time I thought it was the retromutagen ooze.

They were mostly 18 and recruited from high school. The military propaganda mill is intense. No, they didn’t.

They’re welcome to come defend the American people from the criminal gangs known as the police and ICE.

There is so much more to care about right now than desperately trying to convince a troll of anything. You’re below the bottom of the list.

There’s no helping the intentionally helpless.

In literally every legal way possible, and every illegal way they can get away with until a government cracks down on them.