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Pentagon: Military Parade to Cost Estimated $12 million

by VOA News

   The military parade proposed by President Donald Trump will cost $12
   million, the Pentagon said Wednesday.

   Pentagon officials said the figure was an estimate and could change
   once the final plan was approved.

   The $12 million cost is nearly the same as the budget for the
   now-canceled military exercises with South Korea.

   Trump called off the annual exercises after meeting with North Korea
   leader Kim Jong Un, citing their cost and calling them "very
   provocative" to Pyongyang.

   The parade will take place in Washington on November 10.

   According to a Pentagon memo released in March, the parade will travel
   from the White House to the U.S. Capitol.

   The memo said the focus of the parade will be on the "contributions of
   U.S. military veterans throughout history," starting from the American
   Revolutionary War. The parade will include wheeled vehicles but no
   tanks. Some troops will wear period uniforms, and the airplanes used at
   the end of the parade will also include "older aircraft, as available."

   The inspiration to hold a military parade came from the president's
   trip to France last year when he and first lady Melania Trump watched
   Bastille Day events in Paris on July 14, as the guests of French
   President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte.

   Military parades in the United States are generally rare. In 1991, U.S.
   troops paraded through Washington to celebrate the ousting of Saddam
   Hussein's Iraqi forces from Kuwait in the Gulf War.