Evening Parade at the Marine Barracks - Washington D.C.

For those not familiar with Evening Parade, let me describe it this way: Very very few of us will ever be able to see what a United States Marine does best. We will never be locked up in an embassy with an angry foreign crowd outside, protected by Marine sentries on duty. We won't be on a foreign beach as the steel and human tide of an amphibious assault commences and The Corps goes to work. We won't stand next to a Marine artillery weapon as it roars and spins salvation over the heads of comrades engaging an enemy downrange. We will never be on the flight-line of a forward airbase as Marine aviators and their support crews launch jets and helicopters into a hostile night sky. We will, in short, probably never be found among the most threatening people and places on earth wanting only to turn towards home while the Marines will head the other direction. Where they are needed most. Toward the fight.

What we are able to do, with a little luck and patience, is attend an event that U.S. Marines arrange, practice and execute very well: Evening Parade.

Every friday evening in the summer at the "oldest Post in the Corps"  Marine Barracks 8th and I, Washington D.C., we are afforded the honor of seeing some of our finest in military uniform: The United States Marine Band, The United States Marine Drum and Bugle Corps, the Marine Corps Color Guard, the Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon, and Ceremonial Marchers.

It is a ceremony that lasts 90 minutes - from twilight to dark on the parade grounds of the post. It is inspiring to those who currently or have ever served in the military and to everyone else who benefits from the sacrifices of these good men and women. It's been performed since 1934 and on the list of our country's best military demonstrations, it should be the absolute last one that ever goes away. From "Welcome..." to the last note of Taps fading away in the darkness, you will be moved and proud and thankful for all the United States Marines can do.

http://www.barracks.marines.mil/Parades/EveningParade.aspx