A majority of members of the Military Officers Association of America do not support President Trump's plan to hold a military parade, a new MOAA survey shows.

MOAA was wrapping up its survey just as a March 8 Pentagon memo released new planning details for the parade.

About 62 percent of respondents said they would not support the parade - under any circumstance. The most common reason? About 52 percent said it was a "costly distraction."

MOAA's survey is based on a call to action to the membership via email. Results became available Tuesday from a survey conducted earlier this month. MOAA received 7,525 responses.

Of those surveyed, about 27 percent said they supported a parade, conditionally. Based on reasons provided in the survey, about 13 percent would support a parade that served as “a national display of military might and dedicated servicemembers;” 9 percent would support a parade if it were tied to a significant victory; and 5 percent would support a parade to commemorate World War I and Veterans Day. Veterans Day originated as “Armistice Day” Nov. 11, 1919, the first anniversary of the end of World War I. About 10 percent did not select from the reasons offered.

(Betsy Moore/MOAA)

The Pentagon memo released last week details a parade planned on Veterans Day, in Washington, D.C. The parade will integrate with Washington's Veterans Day Parade, and its main goal will be to showcase military service through the years. There will be no tanks, but there will be wheeled vehicles (“consideration must be given to minimize damage to local infrastructure,” the memo notes). An official announcement has not been made at the time of this story release.

“This parade would cost a lot of money and our debt is getting out of hand,” wrote one retired Navy captain in their survey response. Budget analysts have estimated the parade would cost between $10 million and $30 million.
The captain continued in his survey response, “veterans are well respected now - especially this all volunteer force. I think the 1-2% of our population that are in uniform are doing an awfully good job for the other 98% of us. They deserve our utmost respect, but big parades should be reserved for significant events. The government needs to do a cost/benefit analysis on things like this before embarking on annual parades.”

Not everyone who responded agreed.

“The military is a forgotten force,” wrote one respondent. “Americans go about their everyday activities and do not think about the selfless service and the power that our military consists of and portrays. A parade such as this will increase the pool of candidates interested in joining the military, and thus increase the quality point index of servicemen and -women, thus increasing readiness and effectiveness. Fantastic idea!"

A retired Air Force colonel also supported the parade, emphasizing its ability to reach the American public. “The military is not made of weapons but of the men and women trained in their use and willing to put their lives on the line to use them in defense of our nations values,” he wrote.

But when MOAA asked members to rate the best strategies for improving public perception of the military, parades were ranked lowest of all options provided. Airshows ranked the highest, followed by news coverage of military operations, and ceremonial military units. Advertisements and military bands ranked slightly lower (although were still considered slightly more than “somewhat useful”). Parades ranked slightly below “somewhat useful” in influencing Americans' perceptions of the military.

(Betsy Moore/MOAA)

A number of MOAA members requested President Trump make better use of the parade money.
As one respondent put it, "Money would be better spent on veterans' issues like homelessness, addiction, mental health, etc."

MOAA, the nation's largest and most influential association of military officers representing 350,000 members, sought membership input to provide an unvarnished perspective from our wide range of members from the currently serving, to the retirees, to the veterans. The high number of responses speaks to the interest level of those whose opinions ought to matter.

MOAA's Director of Research and Analysis Amanda Meyers contributed to this report.