Tea and medals......
I've read through all the posts on this thread with interest. As an Ex-OR who did more than one or two parades (including an AOC's one at a Northern outpost many years ago, when the OIC asked for permission to march off was told "No, it was a shambles. Do it all again") I can sympathise with a lot of the comments raised.
However, one point did strike me after a comment someone made. For the first time in a long time the majority of those present at the parade with have been awarded at least one gong. All those parades I did where all you got was the SNCOs with their undetected crime medals and the occasional FI or NI clasp, this time there will be a lot of people with the GSM for time served in sandy places.
Or have they stopped giving that out as well?