Later this month, on June 14th, there will be a military parade in Washington in honor of the 250th anniversary of the United States Army. Coincidentally, the day of the festivities is also the 79th birthday of President Donald J. Trump.

Celebrating our troops makes sense, but there’s got to be a better way. The Army estimates that the parade could cost up to $45 million. That is probably a conservative estimate after one considers the cost of moving equipment to DC from all over the country, overtime for DC police, and the costs of repairing local roads that will almost certainly be damaged by the 28 tanks that will be part of the parade.

Not all veterans feel honored by the upcoming spectacle. As Naveed Shah, political director of Common Defense, a veteran’s organization, told the Washington Post, “As an Army veteran myself, I’m proud of the Army’s birthday, but this parade seems like it’s all about the president’s ego rather than the troops who sacrifice everything in order to serve our country.”

For the average person, $45 million seems like a lot of money, but it is a couch change compared to a military budget that is soaring towards $1 trillion per year. But even the $45 million could be better spent.

Ultimately, the cost of the parade isn’t the main issue. It is the hypocrisy involved in honoring veterans and active duty personnel with a one day spectacle at the same time that the administration is proposing sharp cuts in veteran’s benefits, including cuts in personnel, the possible closing of veterans health centers, and a reduction in research into ailments that are prevalent among participants in America’s post-9/11 wars.

The research cuts are especially notable given that literally hundreds of thousands of veterans of the Iraq and Afghan wars suffer from war-related injuries, from lost limbs to traumatic brain injuries to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). While some treatments for PTSD have been found, they don’t work for everyone, and research on better approaches is well worth the investment.

In the meantime, many current military families need to enroll in food stamps to make ends meet.

Many Americans will enjoy the parade, and see it as an appropriate, deeply patriotic celebration. Hopefully they will also see the need to give our service members the help they need, each and every day.

The budget bill now before the Senate will further harm our veterans due to cuts outside of the Veteran’s Administration proper. Millions of veterans depend on food stamps and Medicaid to get by, and a large proportion of the work force across agencies of the federal government consists of veterans as well.

Ultimately, the best way to honor our veterans is to make sure we only send them into war when there is a serious threat to the country that cannot be resolved by other means. According to Gregory Daddis, a twenty-six-year Army veteran and the director of the Center of War and Society at San Diego State University, “(e)ndless wars create endless veterans who are often left wondering... whether their efforts mattered, whether they led to something better.”

And as shown in the documentary film What I Want You to Know, produced by two Afghan War veterans, a significant cohort of veterans aren’t sure why they were sent to those wars, didn’t believe their mission was achievable, and felt that their government had lied to them about the progress of the conflict.

However one views it, the upcoming parade should prompt some deeper reflection on what it means to honor our troops – and defend our country – long after the celebrations have ended.

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William D. Hartung is a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and the co-author, with Ben Freeman, of The Trillion Dollar War Machine (Bold Type Press, forthcoming).

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