But there are costs involved in getting them from their assigned duty station to D.C. and then feeding and housing them for the duration of the set up, the practices, etc. plus the parade. Surprised they didn't think of that to begin with.
Yes, the costs you listed are more realistic. Counting payroll cost for man hours spent in parade is phony. As for cost of moving, nothing the military has (equipment or personnel) sits idle in mothballs. There always are drills, exercises, testing etc going on.
“But there are costs involved in getting them from their assigned duty station to D.C. and then feeding and housing them for the duration of the set up, the practices, etc. plus the parade.”
I understand there are fixed costs and variable costs.
If the parade doesn’t happen won’t the military still have to feed the troops?