Meet Doc Holliday: The blue heeler starring in the Army's 250th anniversary parade
As the nation gets ready for a big military parade on June 14, held to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army, there is one unexpected guest star of the parade — a 2-year-old blue heeler named Doc Holliday.
Named after a character in the movie Tombstone, the dog is a cherished member of the Horse Cavalry Detachment, an equestrian military unit posted at Fort Cavazos, Texas.
The Horse Cavalry Detachment was activated in 1972 and is a subordinate unit of the 1st Cavalry Division. Doc joined the detachment as a young puppy more than two years ago, according to Army Col. Kamil Sztalkoper, a spokesman for the III Armored Corps.
The unit, mostly used to support public relations and recruiting efforts, includes a wagon pulled by two mules, per ABC News.
Sztalkoper said Doc is a playful dog, but he 'knows his place very well when it's time for the parade.'
From the back of the unit's wagon, Doc has participated in several ceremonies and parades. In fact, Doc has participated twice in the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California.
This is not the first time Doc has been included in a big parade lineup. He traveled to Washington, D.C., to be in the inaugural parade this past January, but when the inauguration moved indoors, Doc missed his chance, per The Washington Post.
But this time around, Doc is set to take the spotlight as Army officials said the parade is a 'rain-or-shine event,' the Post reported.
Doc will be marching alongside 6,700 soldiers, 28 M1 Abrams, 28 Stryker vehicles, a World War II-era B-25 bomber, 34 horses, six Paladin self-propelled howitzers and two mules, per The New York Times.
The parade is set for June 14, which not only marks the Army's 250th anniversary but also Flag Day and President Donald Trump's 79th birthday.
Even though it's been two years in the making, it wasn't until after Trump's inauguration that officials began to explore options to make the event bigger with a parade.
Army spokesman Steve Warren said they want it to be a national, global, and 'even interstellar' event, as Army Col. Anne McClain, now serving on the International Space Station, will be phoning in, per The New York Times.
Designed to tell the history of the Army from the Revolutionary era to World War II, as well as to showcase uniforms from every past U.S. conflict, the parade will go for about a mile from Constitution Avenue to the Washington Monument.
At the end of the parade, the Army's Golden Knight parachutists will descend near the Ellipse and present Trump with a folded flag. Additionally, the president will enlist and reenlist 250 recruits and soldiers.
The last big military parade, the National Victory Celebration parade, was held in the U.S. capital to celebrate the conclusion of the Gulf War in 1991.
According to The Washington Post, that parade cost $8 million, or almost $19 million in today's money. Trump's parade is set to cost between $25 million to $45 million, according to Army officials.
Army officials expect about 200,000 attendees. People can request free tickets, two per person.
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