INDEPENDENCE DAY

May 26th is the Georgian Independence Day.  Georgian independence has its roots in the tumultuous events of WWI.  The Bolsheviks were running rampant, Russia pulled out of the war, and nationalism was building in all areas, even in the Caucasus.  Georgia and a few other countries were part of the Transcaucasus Union or Federation, but it only lasted a year or so when it declared its independence on May 26th 1918.  And then the Soviet Union strong-armed it back in, but still the 26th is considered it's independence day.
So, what's an Independence Day without a parade?  For years the parade was held in the capital city, Tbilisi where the President and Parliament are.  And Tbilisi still had street festivals & displays.

But the President had a new Parliament building constructed in Kutaisi, about 3-4 hours west. So President Saakashvili addressed Parliament in its first session in the new building yesterday, then went out to see the parade.  I'm not sure if it's an attractive modern design or an ugly glass wart.

Like I said a 3-4 hour drive with only some of it on a US style superhighway.  About 30 minutes outside of Kutaisi we told our drivers to pull off somewhere so we could change into our uniforms, and we expected they'd find a gas station, roadside restaurant, etc.  Nope.  They just pulled off the side of the road into a field, maybe 30 feet from the road.  And we had our female interpreters and a female Air Force officer from the embassy just watching a half-dozen men stripping down to underwear in a field. 

But the parade was nice, we were placed in a section with a lot of other people so most of what we saw at first were sun-umbrellas with Georgian colors.

Most of the Georgian Army's five brigades were there along with a sampling of their hardware; artillery, tanks, rocket launchers, etc.

And then a few sections of aircraft; helicopters & jets.

On the way back we stopped for dinner, traditional Georgian food.  Then back in the vans for the torturous ride back to Tbilisi.  Good times....

And from a Georgian website that covered the event.
http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=24815