Why do all of this ceremonial “stuff”? Some believe (wrongly) that all this is just a, waste of time, effort, money, etc. Gone are the days of the Army never entering Rome, which was seen as an act of aggression and possible overthrow of the government, which, in that day, it was. Read about crossing the Rubicon and the phrase “The die is cast”, alea iacta est.
Today, our military men and women live near us, they go to “work” and come home. They deploy and return, one way or another.
Ceremonies are about communication. They are a good way for the military to send a message to the public, friends, and even adversaries. That message is something to the effect, “We pay attention to the little details. We work to hone our skills and if we look this good in such a high-profile ceremony, imaging what we can do in battle.” The public is then made to feel confident in their military, friends are confident in their comrades who will swiftly and accurately help in a time of need, and foes are confident that they’d rather not mess around.
Ceremonies are full of time-honored traditions and those traditions come with significant meaning for the participants and onlookers as well. There is a sense of grounding in seeing the changing of the guard or other military ceremonies in one’s country. It’s as if everything will be OK because the status quo is kept. While that is true in regard to the ceremony, our militaries are constantly improving and morphing into something better.
This is what is supposed to be.