I don't really care how many people showed up for Trump's little parade party.

[MineralMan]

14. Yeah, I don't know. They could have been marching in "route step."

But, I don't know. Even when I was in the USAF in the late 1960s, marching in formation was simply something we never did after Basic. Never. I don't know how it goes these days in any of the branches.

Frankly, I never saw any benefit to be gained by marching in formation. These days, most enlisted people work in specialized jobs. There's not so much military niceness that goes on. You do formation marching in Basis. Military bands often continue to march. Some special units have formation marching as part of their ceremonial duties.

Most everyone else, though, not so freaking much.

I have no idea what the orders of the day were for those parade participants. Don't much care, either, and I'm sure they don't care either. Pain in the ass.

Edit to add: I was the band's drum major for the last two years of high school. We all worked hard on marching techniques for halftime shows and parades, and even did some tricky moves. The band director hated marching band, so he left it all to me. He gave me a book. So, I taught the band all about formation marching. We even won some prizes.

However, when I joined the USAF, on the first day of Basic, the drill sergeant asked, 'Anyone here have any experience in marching? Thinking quickly, I kept my silence. NEVER VOLUNTEER!