I have a vivid memory from my childhood. My father bought an old farmhouse. With that house came a considerable amount of trash generated each week. Rather than drag 20 trash bins out to the curb, my father decided to buy a dumpster. The house had a back driveway. When the trash truck first reversed into the rear entrance, the back tires started to sink into the ground. The top of the truck began to sway. I ran away in fear of being crushed by the sinking vehicle.
There is no denying that the United States Military is by far the strongest in the entire world. One overarching position that any soldier in the U.S. military will convey is the vast (and incomprehensible) power of the military. You cannot even imagine. I had difficulty believing the capabilities while serving in the U.S. Air Force -- deploying over to Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait in the late '90s.
President Trump recently announced that tomorrow (4th of July), the military will be included in the parade down Pennsylvania Avenue. Reporting on the possibility of such an event by the Washington Post along with the New York Times and others -- has caused considerable speculation. Why?
First and foremost, if the President's intention were really to honor the military and the greatness of America, then he would leave the troops at their respective bases (homes) to celebrate and have time off (from deployments, exercises, training, emergency situations, etc.). Obviously, that is not the case for this occasion. The President has undoubtedly not thought of the relevant parameters at hand for the event to go smoothly. Let us review a few.
1) Equipment (planes, tanks, troops) must be transported to the Capitol.
2) Around the clock, security has to be provided to the equipment.
3) Hotel, eating arrangements (not to mention uniforms,etc.) have to be assigned.
4) Accountability for the equipment and troops.
5) Timing is everything.
To start with transportation.
1) Transportation to and from Event?
The amount of shipments that must be made in advance around the clock is staggering. Tanks must be loaded onto trains to be shipped long distances. Short distances can be accomplished by truck. Fighter jets come in groups. Groups of fighter jets require groups of maintenance personnel to maintain the aircraft.
To ensure when the jets are started, they can fly without error. Every flight is a mission. Therefore, each plane is treated as if the pilot is flying into combat. I would imagine the same is true of other services -- which complicates the situation further with the amount of support personnel required.
The amount of massive coordination has to be centered at a geographical location. How many hotel rooms are required for maintenance personnel? Are there enough hotel rooms in Washington D.C.? These questions have yet to be answered. What about the food needed to feed the staff? This amount of food is aside from that required for the visitors (civilians, government, and local) who will encroach on the Capital that day. What a mess.
2) Security?
Once the equipment has arrived at the designated location in Washington D.C., who is going to guard the equipment? Around the clock? You cannot just drive a tank up on the day to the event. As has been reported by the popular news, the roads in Washington D.C. were not built to handle the weight of a 60 ton Tank. What is going to happen when the Tank sinks into the street? What about the bridges?
The Lincoln Memorial supposedly cannot handle the weight of a single Tank? The Memorial is built on top of the Potomac River. How is that going to work out? These are relevant parameters which are overlooked by the public and politicians. Although the parameters have to be answered and overcame to move the military into location. The analysis involved takes time. There is a whole substructure of infrastructure required to make the presence of the U.S. Military happen in a given geographic area which is often overlooked by the public.
Which is sad to say. The reason why is that if these parameters were known to the public (or cared for by the public), a greater appreciation might exist for the military.
3) & 4) Troops, Troops, and Troops!
It has been reported by the Washington Post that over 300 troops will be part of the ceremony tomorrow. That does not include all of the support personnel to move the equipment, ensure that the Fighter Jets are up and running. Which is another 100 depending on the amount of equipment being shipped to the event? This requires troops to be on alert and away from their families on a holiday to celebrate America's independence. The day of celebration.
What the world does not realize is that any time you have military soldiers running around 'town' freely, there are going to be issues. If everything goes smoothly and no crazy events happen, I will surely be surprised. Of course, the news might not even hear of any. The military is kept tight and is good at retaining information locked down.
Think about feeding soldiers, coordinating transporting them into the event and out of the event. What is not generally known about the travel of any U.S. soldier is that 'official orders' have to be prepared for each soldier. If you ever see a soldier on deployment or vacation who is on active duty, that soldier is required to carry his/her 'official orders' stating their official status. Which is the current case, means generating hundreds of pieces of paper to give to soldiers to be present at the celebration.
Hotel accommodations were mentioned earlier. Where are all of these troops going to stay? They have to be housed somewhere close to the event. Transportation is another issue. Who is coordinating the event? Is there a central command or is each service organizing separately? I can only imagine the amount of effort required to make this celebration happen.
5) Timing is everything!
As I have already alluded to, the amount of coordination is going to be crazy. Usually, the military operates on planning schedules of months. Of course, deployments happen overseas frequently without hiccups or delays. There are delays, but for the most part, the military has now optimized the travel abroad to deploy abroad to a large extent. The case for traveling inside the United States comes with different rules. Especially when military equipment is involved.
To make the flyover happen seamlessly, there is a large amount of effort devoted to planning. The planning starts days before. I have embedded a video which is less than 6 minutes in length, showing the logistics that go into producing a high flyover by the military:
The cost of flying military aircraft over stadiums vary by type of aircraft. For aircraft designed to perform at events (military jets reconfigured to fly for events), the cost per Blue Angel Fighter Jet is around $10,000 per hour. Whereas for an F-35, the cost is $30,000 per hour. Even more expensive is the cost to fly Air Force One at a cost of $140,000 per hour. These costs were reported by the Washington Post earlier this week.
I have included a few videos below of the coverage so far of the transportation of military equipment below.
Washington Post Video:
Coverage of Tanks being transported Tuesday night:
The military is not necessarily designed to visit cities in the United States. Sounds ironic right? Immediately after 9/11, I was telling people the silence in the sky was rather disturbing to a person who lives near an airport. To have the military shut down airspace to all aircraft is not normal. Furthermore, to have Fighter Jets flying through the sky is not normal either on a daily basis. The military is great at deploying and exerting force where required by the command. Using the military for a celebration is typically outside of the mission.
Now that a few of the relevant parameters have been stated, the celebration tomorrow and beyond will always provide you with the insight into the logistics that go on behind the scene to make celebrations happen. Which should promote more gratitude among viewers. The effort staff and planners, along with troops, devote to making a celebration seem seamless is impressive.
I hope that each of you has a wonderful (and safe) 4th of July celebration!
What about Tanks?
There is no denying that the United States Military is by far the strongest in the entire world. One overarching position that any soldier in the U.S. military will convey is the vast (and incomprehensible) power of the military. You cannot even imagine. I had difficulty believing the capabilities while serving in the U.S. Air Force -- deploying over to Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait in the late '90s.
President Trump recently announced that tomorrow (4th of July), the military will be included in the parade down Pennsylvania Avenue. Reporting on the possibility of such an event by the Washington Post along with the New York Times and others -- has caused considerable speculation. Why?
First and foremost, if the President's intention were really to honor the military and the greatness of America, then he would leave the troops at their respective bases (homes) to celebrate and have time off (from deployments, exercises, training, emergency situations, etc.). Obviously, that is not the case for this occasion. The President has undoubtedly not thought of the relevant parameters at hand for the event to go smoothly. Let us review a few.
1) Equipment (planes, tanks, troops) must be transported to the Capitol.
2) Around the clock, security has to be provided to the equipment.
3) Hotel, eating arrangements (not to mention uniforms,etc.) have to be assigned.
4) Accountability for the equipment and troops.
5) Timing is everything.
To start with transportation.
1) Transportation to and from Event?
The amount of shipments that must be made in advance around the clock is staggering. Tanks must be loaded onto trains to be shipped long distances. Short distances can be accomplished by truck. Fighter jets come in groups. Groups of fighter jets require groups of maintenance personnel to maintain the aircraft.
To ensure when the jets are started, they can fly without error. Every flight is a mission. Therefore, each plane is treated as if the pilot is flying into combat. I would imagine the same is true of other services -- which complicates the situation further with the amount of support personnel required.
The amount of massive coordination has to be centered at a geographical location. How many hotel rooms are required for maintenance personnel? Are there enough hotel rooms in Washington D.C.? These questions have yet to be answered. What about the food needed to feed the staff? This amount of food is aside from that required for the visitors (civilians, government, and local) who will encroach on the Capital that day. What a mess.
2) Security?
Once the equipment has arrived at the designated location in Washington D.C., who is going to guard the equipment? Around the clock? You cannot just drive a tank up on the day to the event. As has been reported by the popular news, the roads in Washington D.C. were not built to handle the weight of a 60 ton Tank. What is going to happen when the Tank sinks into the street? What about the bridges?
The Lincoln Memorial supposedly cannot handle the weight of a single Tank? The Memorial is built on top of the Potomac River. How is that going to work out? These are relevant parameters which are overlooked by the public and politicians. Although the parameters have to be answered and overcame to move the military into location. The analysis involved takes time. There is a whole substructure of infrastructure required to make the presence of the U.S. Military happen in a given geographic area which is often overlooked by the public.
Which is sad to say. The reason why is that if these parameters were known to the public (or cared for by the public), a greater appreciation might exist for the military.
3) & 4) Troops, Troops, and Troops!
It has been reported by the Washington Post that over 300 troops will be part of the ceremony tomorrow. That does not include all of the support personnel to move the equipment, ensure that the Fighter Jets are up and running. Which is another 100 depending on the amount of equipment being shipped to the event? This requires troops to be on alert and away from their families on a holiday to celebrate America's independence. The day of celebration.
What the world does not realize is that any time you have military soldiers running around 'town' freely, there are going to be issues. If everything goes smoothly and no crazy events happen, I will surely be surprised. Of course, the news might not even hear of any. The military is kept tight and is good at retaining information locked down.
Think about feeding soldiers, coordinating transporting them into the event and out of the event. What is not generally known about the travel of any U.S. soldier is that 'official orders' have to be prepared for each soldier. If you ever see a soldier on deployment or vacation who is on active duty, that soldier is required to carry his/her 'official orders' stating their official status. Which is the current case, means generating hundreds of pieces of paper to give to soldiers to be present at the celebration.
Hotel accommodations were mentioned earlier. Where are all of these troops going to stay? They have to be housed somewhere close to the event. Transportation is another issue. Who is coordinating the event? Is there a central command or is each service organizing separately? I can only imagine the amount of effort required to make this celebration happen.
5) Timing is everything!
As I have already alluded to, the amount of coordination is going to be crazy. Usually, the military operates on planning schedules of months. Of course, deployments happen overseas frequently without hiccups or delays. There are delays, but for the most part, the military has now optimized the travel abroad to deploy abroad to a large extent. The case for traveling inside the United States comes with different rules. Especially when military equipment is involved.
To make the flyover happen seamlessly, there is a large amount of effort devoted to planning. The planning starts days before. I have embedded a video which is less than 6 minutes in length, showing the logistics that go into producing a high flyover by the military:
The cost of flying military aircraft over stadiums vary by type of aircraft. For aircraft designed to perform at events (military jets reconfigured to fly for events), the cost per Blue Angel Fighter Jet is around $10,000 per hour. Whereas for an F-35, the cost is $30,000 per hour. Even more expensive is the cost to fly Air Force One at a cost of $140,000 per hour. These costs were reported by the Washington Post earlier this week.
I have included a few videos below of the coverage so far of the transportation of military equipment below.
Washington Post Video:
Coverage of Tanks being transported Tuesday night:
Just left the Nats game, and we were greeted by Trump's tanks rolling through just outside the ballpark @fox5dc @nbcwashington pic.twitter.com/O9VmDGFoMY— Cole (@eloc8) July 3, 2019
The military is not necessarily designed to visit cities in the United States. Sounds ironic right? Immediately after 9/11, I was telling people the silence in the sky was rather disturbing to a person who lives near an airport. To have the military shut down airspace to all aircraft is not normal. Furthermore, to have Fighter Jets flying through the sky is not normal either on a daily basis. The military is great at deploying and exerting force where required by the command. Using the military for a celebration is typically outside of the mission.
Now that a few of the relevant parameters have been stated, the celebration tomorrow and beyond will always provide you with the insight into the logistics that go on behind the scene to make celebrations happen. Which should promote more gratitude among viewers. The effort staff and planners, along with troops, devote to making a celebration seem seamless is impressive.
I hope that each of you has a wonderful (and safe) 4th of July celebration!
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