In Snow and Icy Wind, Military Gets Inaugural Steps Down Cold

It was snowing and the wind was blowing in the early hours of Sunday morning as military bands banged their drums and tooted their trombones down a deserted Pennsylvania Avenue in a dress rehearsal of the 52nd inaugural parade.

Bill Clinton wasn’t there. Neither were the Gores. And neither were any of the parade floats and civilian bands. But all absent participants were represented by stand-ins to give a true sense of how long the real parade will take Jan. 20.

The sounds of the Marine Band’s “Stars and Stripes Forever” echoed off the walls of empty government buildings. Army units in camouflage marched in perfect step. And anyone who bothered to show up could get the best seats in the house.

Few did. After all, temperatures were in the 20s, and the rehearsal, which started with units lining up at the Pentagon at 5:30 a.m., was over and done with before many Washingtonians woke up.

“I must say it’s sort of thrilling,” said Harry Thomason, co-executive chairman of the Presidential Inaugural Committee, as he watched the bands go by from the unfinished presidential reviewing stand in front of the White House.

The inaugural parade is the military’s pride and joy. It’s the apogee of military ceremony. It doesn’t just have to look good, it has to be perfection.

The Armed Forces Inaugural Committee stages the quadrennial run-through to ensure that, come Jan. 20, it is.

Timing is carefully adjusted, formations are made tighter and medics and support staff are on hand to respond to staged mishaps. Every one of the 4,300 military personnel participating learns precisely what needs to be done.

“To provide proper military honor to the new President, that’s what it’s really all about,” said Lt. Col. Jay Clarke of the District of Columbia’s Bolling Air Force Base.