The military puts on a good show

Santo Domingo.- The threatening clouds hovering over the capital’s south coast seemed to cower when major general Cesar Nicolas Casten ordered Task Force Independence 2012 to start the Armed Forces traditional military parade to mark the National Day.

It was preceded by president Leonel Fernandez’s “permission granted,” the same response as in his 11 previous parades.

The event celebrated the “shot heard ‘round the island” that signaled the start of the country’s war for Independence on February 27, 1844.

More than 5,000 men and women marched and route-stepped by the Head of State and his most senior officials and military officers observing from the deck erected in front of the Jaragua hotel, with the Caribbean’s shimmering waters pounding the coast.

This year’s presentation featured squadrons of helicopters and intercept planes, in addition to the land and sea weaponry and search and rescue capacitiy.