Silent Platoon Friday Parade

Friday, 14 July 2023

Marine Barracks, Washington DC

This has been on my bucket list for quite some years. Can't even remember when I first heard about them. It met my expectations & I highly recommend it - if you are even remotely patriotic and especially if you love marching music & close order drill. The setting was amazing & very historic. In our case, it had the added drama that when we arrived at Eastern Market metro, there was a huge storm passing by! Extremely hard rain, high winds & lightening popping down all around us. And this was about 6:20pm. Gates were to open at 7pm!!!!

The website said that they always waited to the last minute to cancel, so we stayed in the underground & kept checking the Facebook, Instagram & Twitter sites. About 7pm they announced that it would probably be moved inside, but would still go on. About 7:10pm we headed to our gate in a light drizzle. By the time (6 minutes walk) we got to our gate, it wasn't raining & there was a rainbow over the barracks. The storm continued on it's path & even though there was lightening visible over the buildings throughout the evening, it was always very far away & the skies were mostly clear with a light breeze. Perfection! It was meant to be!!

Marine Corps Capt. Kelsey M. Hastings serves as the Silent Drill Platoon Commander for the Marine Barracks Washington 2023 parade season. She is the first woman to command the platoon.