Pentagon issues memo with guidance for Trump’s military parade

The Pentagon has reportedly issued a memo with guidance for President Trump’s proposed military parade scheduled for Veterans Day. 

The memo, obtained by CNN, says the parade will go from the White House to the Capitol, and include soldiers dressed in period uniforms. Trump will view the event while surrounded by veterans and Medal of Honor recipients in the Capitol’s reviewing area.

The Defense Department sent the memo to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Thursday, CNN reported. It comes after Trump’s national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, gave the president’s instructions for the parade to the Pentagon last month.

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The Joint Staff will be in charge of planning the event in a way that integrates the parade into Washington’s planned Veterans Day festivities on Nov. 11, according to the report. Northern Command will be charged with executing the event, the memo said. 

The parade will feature a “heavy air component” of planes set to fly over onlookers at the end of the demonstration, and could include older aircraft, according to the memo. Along with antique planes, a band of soldiers in Revolutionary War period uniforms will reportedly march in the parade. 

The parade will not include tanks but only wheeled vehicles, the memo stated. Some had expressed doubts about tanks rolling through downtown Washington, D.C., raising fears about heavy machinery damaging roads. 

Trump floated the grand military demonstration, which officials have estimated could cost between $10 million and $30 million, after witnessing the Bastille Day parade in France last summer. Many lawmakers from Trump’s own party have suggested the funds could be better spent on military supplies or veterans services.