Just after a news conference celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Chattanooga Armed Forces day parade, U.S. Rep Chuck Fleischmann talked about beltway politics.
“I’ve got three aces,” Fleischmann said.
Dressed in a French blue suit, Fleischmann is just a few weeks removed from acquiring his latest “ace,” a spot on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. With two subcommittee assignments, which include such vast funding responsibilities as energy, water, education and labor, Fleischmann said he’s in a position to broker cooperation across party lines and within the GOP.
It followed the message of unity he and Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly hammered home in the lobby of the Read House hotel. There, along with Lt. Gen. James Mingus, they talked about the importance of togetherness, Chattanooga’s patriotism and the Armed Forces Day parade that would soon start.
“We’re honoring all four branches,” Fleischmann said, with each service represented in the parade.
It’s the first time Chattanooga has done so, he said, since the tradition began. Former Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson unified four separate days for each of the armed services in 1947 under the banner of Armed Forces Day. Fleischmann and Kelly noted it only made sense to celebrate all four at once Friday because Chattanooga is the only city in the nation to have celebrated the day every year.
“I can confirm,” Mingus, vice chief of staff for the U.S. Army, said at a news conference before the parade. “We did the research.”
After the news conference, Mingus talked about the importance of these kinds of events for promoting visibility for the military.
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“We’re expanding how we’re recruiting,” Mingus said.
In the past several decades, demographics have shifted as Generation Z has elevated to military age.
“Who we recruit, how we recruit and where we recruit have to change,” he said.
Kelly also spoke about the importance of unity, noting that with everything happening in the world — elections, a steady push of foreign propaganda and more — that events like the parade can help people focus on each other.
“We have to kind of play defense online,” Kelly said after the news conference. “But there’s nothing like spending time together in person.”
Fleischmann continued to talk about unity as he walked from the lobby to the parade, pointing to a visit he’d made recently to Baltimore Harbor.
“In a time of crisis it was a moment of heartfelt unity,” Fleischmann said.
Fleischmann has his differences with others in the Republican conference, even neighboring Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Northwest Georgia. He has stood ground in defense of military aid to Ukraine, while Greene has been outspoken in her criticism of Ukraine aid.
“Our constituents desperately want to see us working together,” he said.
Contact William D’Urso at wdurso@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6125.