Why you might roll your eyes:
With all the military pomp and circumstance of the nation’s capital, why visit a barracks at the edge of Capitol Hill?
Why you’ll love it:
Get to Arlington’s Iwo Jima memorial or the Marine Barracks in Southeast DC for one of the evening parades during spring and summer. The parades start with a performance by the Marine Band or the Marine Drum & Bugle Corps; then comes the 24-man Silent Drill Platoon sporting an equal number of ten-pound M1 rifles with fixed bayonets, executing an elaborate drill in silence. Audiences are known to alternately gasp and applaud. “Utmost precision” and “split-second timing” don’t quite describe the experience. Tuesday evenings in Arlington, Friday evenings at the barracks (where reservations are required, ideally a month in advance; www.barracks.marines.mil).
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