Honor the fallen and veterans, ditch parade

Memorial Day will be celebrated on

Monday -- the 47th official observance of the holiday. Since our country's inception, more than 1,354,664 have lost their lives in military service with the Civil

War being the deadliest.

On May 5, 1868, an order issued by General

John Logan established a day of remembrance for soldiers who died during the Civil War. May 30, 1868, was the day designated for this observance and flowers were placed on the graves of soldiers in both the Union and Confederate armies. New York was the first state to officially recognize this observance in 1873 and in 1971 with the passage of the National Holiday Act, Memorial Day was designated as the last Monday of May.

While Americans will honor the fallen on Monday with traditional wreath and flag placements at grave sites and in special ceremonies, a military parade orchestrated by President Trump on Veterans Day will likely be the highlight of this year's military recognitions.

The Pentagon announced in March that a military parade requested by President Trump will take place in Washington on Veterans Day to honor those who have served in the military from the Revolutionary War through today.

A document addressed to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff provided "initial guidance," and said the parade will begin at the White House and proceed to the U.S. Capitol, with a "heavy air component at the end." It notes that Trump will be surrounded by military heroes in the reviewing area at the Capitol.

Trump says the inspiration for the parade came from France and a parade connected to Bastille Day festivities. But what is our parade's purpose? The U.S. has a tradition of celebrating war victories. We are not North Korea, China and Russia, which regularly hold military parades as part of their propaganda machines.

Members of Congress from both parties have been critical of the idea of a military parade, questioning its cost and necessity. The last such event in the U.S. came in 1991 to celebrate the ending of the Gulf War and its cost was reported in the $12 million range.

Though no official cost projections have been released, Mick Mulvaney, the White House budget director, estimated the cost could be between $10 million and $30 million, and said the government would have to come up with a way to cover the cost because the parade was not included in the White House’s 2019 budget request.

I think the majority of Americans have great respect and gratitude for America's veterans, past and present. Certainly, I support and applaud initiatives to bolster military pay, and other benefits and support systems. And in basic concept, a big parade to honor vets sounds good.

Think on this. Congress is expected to give military service members their biggest pay raise in nine years come January, a move that will mean almost $700 more annually for even the most junior service members, according to Military Times. Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s personnel panel recently advanced their section of the annual defense authorization bill, which includes a 2.6 percent pay raise and a host of other military specialty pay renewals for 2019.

There were a total of 1.3 million active duty military and more than 800,000 reserve forces

as of September 2017, according to Defense Department personnel data. Total active duty personnel for the five armed service were approximately 472,000 for the Army, 319,000 for the Navy, 319,000 for the Air Force, 184,000 for the Marine Corps and 41,000 for the Coast Guard.

More than 23,000 active-duty troops used the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in 2013, according to a 2016 report from the Government Accountability Office.

In 2014 more than $84 million in food stamp benefits were spent at military commissaries, marketplace. org reported.

The Trump administration has proposed a $1.7 billion budget cut to SNAP.

We have a couple million people on active and reserve duty. About $700 annually is proposed as a pay increase for service members.

How could we better spend $10-$30 million? A bigger raise, perhaps? Wouldn't service members be more honored by the proposed raise -and, a one-time bonus funded by the cost of Trump's parade? Or maybe more prompt and efficient services from the Veterans Administration? Trump pledged his first quarter salary to the VA, which is commendable. Those parade dollars could help even more.

Remember the fallen on Memorial Day. And urge your federal leaders to do right by service members and not waste funds on a parade. Congress and the Trump administration appear to be headed toward the implementation of a pay raise. Those efforts should be applauded, but spending $30 million on a parade is self-aggrandizement this country does not need.

Shea Wilson is the former managing editor of the El Dorado NewsTimes. E-mail her at melsheawilson@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter @sheawilson7.