Great piece, Greg.

Holy cow! Look at that. I had so much fun yesterday talking to Domers. It’s been so good to be back…even if half of campus is entirely unrecognizable to me.

Congrats again! So glad it’s here and can’t wait to host your book talk at @georgetownssp.bsky.social

Way to go! I know the feeling. One of my top 10 most tiring events ever.

I’m so sorry, Russ

To me, it really just confirms how you can’t separate the Army and parade from the context of it all.

This all shows the perils of politicizing the military - Americans are desperate to see it as their co-partisan - and how all sorts of narratives can easily take root about the military when you don’t really know it at all. Fin/

I can be critical of the Army, but it did the best it could do under the circumstances. Perhaps there’s a silver lining in that it did give the public some insights into its Army at a time when it’s hard for the public to really know its military. 7/

People who are surprised by how the Army went about fulfilling this task it was handed, haven’t been to an installation-wide 4th of July fest or division week. I’d much rather the parade have that vibe than something more ominous. 6/

In any case, many who feared the optic of goose stepping soldiers down Constitution but are now calling it low energy should be glad our Army doesn’t put a high premium on marching and parades. 5/

And if you can’t hear the drum beat over music being played, it’s easy to get out of step. To members from the other services who are sniping about this or other aspects of the parade, be glad your service wasn’t put in this position. 4/

Some are suggesting the troops marched in formation poorly on purpose. I hate to break it to folks, outside of the various bands and the Fife and Drum Corps whose jobs are to march in formation for a living, it’s not something troops spend a lot of time doing, nor do they really want to. 3/

In short, I think the criticism demonstrates two things: the impossibility of separating the Army/parade from the context in which it occurred and how little the American public knows its Army. 2/

Thanks, Elizabeth!

Fair. I purposefully chose to make a very narrow argument here and focus on the breakdown of the military’s norm of nonpartisanship, but yes, that’s occurring amidst a much larger breakdown of norms, etc.

I use this clip in my civil-military relations class all the time.

Thanks so much, Risa.

I’m so sorry to hear this, Brad.