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Romania Paraded Its Old-Fashioned War Machines Through a Terrible Blizzard on Monday

It was just a reminder of how poorly equipped the country's military is.

This post originally appeared on VICE Romania

Romania is not exactly renowned for its advanced military, but that didn't stop thousands of Romanians from flooding the center of Bucharest this past Monday to see the National Day military parade through one of the worst blizzards to have ever hit the city.

As a proud Romanian, I too went to check out the parade but left with a bitter taste in my mouth. You see, to me, this military parade that takes place every year on December 1 is just a remnant of unjustified communist megalomania. Of course, most (if not all) countries in the world parade their war machines around their big cities every once in a while, but those countries usually have something better to show off.

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Romania is way behind both when it comes to military budget and weaponry. We have a few tanks, but we don't have ammunition to use in live-fire drills. It's lucky that military service is no longer mandatory, because in the last decade people were starting to pass on their boots to their sons—that's how poor the military is.

I am not saying it's not OK to show some respect to the men defending your country. I was touched to see the Red Scorpions Battalion, which fought in Afghanistan.

But I think there are ways to show our respect without parading tons of useless metal through our city. I assume there are enough bright people at the Ministry of Defense to come up with an event in which Romanians could show their appreciation for their heroes.

It's embarrassing to organize a military parade when an old military chopper crashed just a week ago— killing eight R​omanian soldiers. Or when the planes the country bought second-hand from Russia won't even fly anymore.

If this year's parade had any purpose it was to transmit one single message: Romania has allies. So Romanian soldiers marched with American Marines and French, Turkish, and Polish infantry forces.

I suppose it helps remind our neighboring countries that Romania is part of NATO and that we are close to the Republic of Moldova, who also sent some soldiers to march alongside ours.

If you think about the low defense budget, the "modernized" MIG planes and helicopters that keep crashing and Russia being just a stone's throw away, you realize that all Romania can really brag about are its NATO allies.

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Whether we want to admit it or not we are a country of modest means. Maybe it's time to start acting the part.

Follow Alex Mihăileanu on ​Twitter.