Out of Step

Cadence in:

The first thing I learned in boot camp was how to walk in formation. We’ll call it a march. After all of the drills, it was hard to walk normally. Even when we hit the streets, after training, our group would start walking in step. So why wasn’t that happening in Trump’s birthday parade?

Time to ask a veteran.

“As a veteran, I was watching that, this isn't marching. These guys are just walking down the street. I saw one guy with sunglasses on, and his shirt was open. You could see his white T shirt. You wear green T shirts under your uniform.

And these guys were clearly not in on the mentality that this regime is trying to force on us, and it was beautiful.“

Like Vic I was also wondering how those soldiers would respond if they were told to “goose step” down the street after they were called losers by this President who wanted them to give him a big birthday present.

“But something that struck me is they were in a “route step” march. For those of you who haven't been in military there's marching like, you see on TV, where they're all in neat rows and columns, and you got somebody calling cadence. Left, left, left, right, left. What these guys were doing in that parade was “route step” march. And whoever's in control of the formation, your commander, your sergeant, your lieutenant, your captain, whoever, is leading the formation, they're the ones who call the march.

And it was the people in charge who called “route step” march and made this parade look as bad as it did. So for those of us who are wondering how the military commanders are going to react if the worst scenarios happen, I think that's a good indication.“

Military participation in the parade wasn’t well thought out. They were sleeping on bare floors before they mustered up at the Capitol to march that morning.

This veteran points out that you could see the looks on their faces. They didn’t want to be there.

“When soldiers are in a parade, they represent their country. They're symbols of their nation. The people are proud of them. They're proud to be there, out on the streets, united with those people. An expression of pride and joy.

When the music begins to play and you start to step off and all your feet going together and your shoulders start to swing, there's a real genuine pride and swagger. You’re right to be there. You love it. You're out there, you're proud. You've come back from wherever you've been, in war, in conflict, policing a nation, keeping the peace, whatever it was.

And when you come home, the people are glad to see you, and you're glad to be home, back with them in your tribe, in the place you belong, with the people that you've been protecting, keeping them safe, the wives, the children, everyone. And it's a joy.“

This veteran points out that there was not a lot of pride or joy to be found in this military parade.

“I didn't see people with pride. I didn't see straight lines of strong, chest out marching soldiers who were happy to be there. I saw faces of misery. I saw people out of step who couldn't be bothered. I saw people in scruffy outfits, they're ambling along down Pennsylvania Avenue.

There was nothing impressive. Those guys didn't want to be there and they didn't. Certainly didn't want to be saluting somebody who had avoided military service and then present him with his national flag all folded up as a birthday present which had been purchased with their money. They didn't want that. They didn't want to be marching down Pennsylvania Avenue.

The weather was bloody grey and damp and their attitude was grey and damp as well. It wasn't that they're bad soldiers, it wasn't that they couldn't do it, is that the hearts were in it. There was no meaning to it. There was no emotion. They didn't want to be there.

When a soldier marches in a parade, when it's a big spectacle on a big day, he needs to believe in his nation. He really needs to believe in his cause. He needs to believe that the person up there believes in him. I don't want to see somebody up there who called him suckers, that's for sure.

However, across the nation there were thousands of other parades with really dignified, decent people.“

No Kings chant

Millions showed up for the No King’s protests at Big cities, small towns and villages in the US and around the world to protest the Trump regime.

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow says their message was in step with their signs.

“Say no. Nope. We are not doing this. You are not taking over our country and turning us into a dictatorship. You are not going to be a king here..”

Music out: this Land is Your Land

I’m Mike Turner

Thank you for listening