Thousands of troops will march through Washington, D.C. as a part of President Donald Trump’s national military parade on Saturday to honor the 250th birthday of the U.S. Army. The day also coincides with the President’s 79th birthday. But the parade arguably couldn’t come at a more precarious time. The Trump Administration is engaged in a legal battle with California, after deploying National Guard troops to Los Angeles without the request or approval of Gov. Gavin Newsom. There is also grave concern about what’s happening overseas, as Israel and Iran trade deadly missiles after Israel launched a military operation targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities and personnel.
Amid all this, protests are expected throughout the country as organizations and individuals take part in “No Kings Day” demonstrations. While the protests have long been arranged, they’ve been largely spurned on by Trump’s actions regarding the L.A. protests, which have since spread to other cities across the U.S. The protests are “taking action to reject authoritarianism—and show the world what democracy really looks like,” per the “No Kings” website, which also states “in America, we don’t do kings.”
Dissent against the parade is also coming partly from within one of Trump’s most reliable support bases: veterans. Although former U.S. military personnel have historically voted with wide margins in favor of Trump and the Republican Party, there is a growing discontent among some within the community.
Read More: Veterans Condemn Trump’s ‘Misuse of Military Power’ Amid L.A. Protests
On Friday, a group of roughly 60 veterans and military family members protesting both the deployment of the National Guard in L.A. and Saturday’s military parade were arrested by the Capitol Police, after they breached a police line of bike racks.
“President Trump threatened Americans coming to exercise their first amendment rights would be met with ‘great force,’” said Michael T. McPhearson, veteran and director of Veterans for Peace, an organizer of the protest. “We are the actual people who put uniforms on because we believe in the freedoms this country is supposed to be about and we will not be intimidated into silence.”
McPhearson’s words echo the sentiments of others, including Chris Purdy, a U.S. Army National Guard veteran who served from 2004 to 2012 and was deployed to Iraq in 2011.
Purdy maintains values of military might and respect set to be displayed in the parade exist in “stark contrast” to how Trump is treating both veterans and also “our neighbors and our allies that have helped build the peace.”
“[Veteran Affairs] announced an end to the VASP [Veterans Affairs Servicing Purchase] program. This is a program that kept around 13,000 veterans in their homes last year, and there are 90,000 vets who are at financial risk through their [VA] loans that would have benefited from this program,” says Purdy, highlighting the reported $45 million cost of the parade. “I’m seeing a lot of attacks on the apolitical nature of the military, on the veteran community itself. And then, to kind of wrap it all up in this parade, it feels gross.”
Purdy recounts a lesson from a sergeant in the Army, who told him that “respect is built by coalitions, by relationships.” Purdy points to a defining factor of Trump’s first months of Presidency, which has included contentious relationships with multiple U.S. allies, including Canada.
“I think about my time in Iraq and the coalition partners that I served alongside—the British, Polish, and Lithuanian soldiers—we built these coalitions to help us accomplish the mission,” Purdy says. “We [veterans] believe that America can lead the world without being oppressive. So this kind of ostentatious display of American might feels unnecessary. It feels like the bully on the playground that needs to kind of go around and flex his muscles to prove like he’s the biggest kid on the block.”
And Purdy is not alone in his concerns. A survey conducted by Data for Progress and Common Defense, conducted in April, found that around 70% of the veterans approached said they are opposed to the Trump Administration “ordering active-duty U.S. military troops to perform a parade in honor of President Trump’s birthday.”
Janessa Goldbeck agrees with Purdy’s assessment, pointing to both the VASP cut, as well as Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill,” which proposes cuts to Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), that Goldbeck says many military and veteran households “rely on.”
“And then you pair that with this complete endangerment and misuse of the National Guard and the active-duty military. Clearly, there’s no regard for veterans or people in uniform from this Administration,” Goldbeck claims. “All of this is an attempt to reshape the United States military as a tool of domestic power for the sitting President… it is certainly not in line with the principles enshrined in the Constitution that I swore to uphold and defend.”
But not all veterans are in agreement that the parade is a “gross” display of strength.
Read More: What To Know About Trump’s Military Parade
Many veterans have traveled to Washington, D.C. for the festivities to celebrate the active-duty military members who are choosing to serve their country.
“It’s good for Americans to see what their tax dollars are paying for and what the troops who are protecting them are using,” said veteran John Norton, who was on the bomb squad in the Army and served in Athens, Greece, and Vicenza, Italy. Norton was referencing the Army tanks and aircraft that will be displayed during the parade, during an interview with ABC News.
Veteran Ana Salazar is attending the parade to “thank” the active-duty military members for their service. “Proud to be a fellow brother and sister-in-arms with my fellow veterans and active-duty service members,” she said. Salazar served in the military from 2003 to 2014, and was stationed in Belgium, Kansas, Missouri, and Hawaii, and did tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
Still, Libby Jamison, military spouse and former President of the Military Spouse J.D. Network, says veterans she knows may agree with different aspects of Trump’s policies, but those “across the political spectrum” in her community are “concerned about this level of spending on this type of pageantry.”
Currently, Jamison is working on bringing down the 20% unemployment rate among active-duty spouses, and says the messaging of the parade as a celebration feels in conflict with the conditions she sees many veterans and military personnel existing in.
“I think if you ask [those] families what they need at this moment, it wouldn’t be a parade. It would be, ‘I need a job’ or ‘I need child care,’” Jamison argues. “Who is this parade really for? Because it doesn’t feel like it’s for service members or families.”
