Well stated shipmate. A member of my squadron was selected for the Blues
back in the late 80s. I ran into him in Pensacola between seasons after he
had done one year of the routine. I'll never forget the conversation nor
the telling comment - "I just want to get out of this alive...". It is a
tough life in many different ways -- he felt like he was living an alternate
reality where his life was not his own. A few years removed from it, he
said he would do it again only if he were single simply because of the time
away.

The general public doesn't have much insight into the demands of the job.
They're generally captured by the 'notional' flying skills of the
participants. But, to me, emerging from the experience with ones
perspective intact takes alotta character.

"John Carrier" wrote in message
...
First air show at NMM in a number of years with (of course) the Blues as
the
main attraction. Schedule doesn't permit attendence on Sat/Sun but I
managed to take my granddaughters to the practice show Friday ... the
three
year old LOVES airplanes.

Blues showed up with 5 jets, dash 3 was Med down and didn't make the trip
... first time I've seen a med down cut into the show (and I've been
watching 'em since F-11 days). A 3-plane with dash 4 on the wing plus the
two solos.

I realize it's early in the season and 4 doesn't often fly wing, but they
were pretty bad (and they were pretty bad when they last performed here
....
then a team with "issues") and seemed to have several A/C problems. 2
lost
his smoke in the line-abreast loop and then rapidly dropped aft 1-200
feet,
stabilized there and completed the maneuver (rejoined well away from show
center ... I'd love to know what he was looking at and what Betty was
telling him as he neared the top of the loop). A couple more maneuvers in
which they just flew by vice performing the acro. Then only four jets in
the sky (I think it was 4 that actually landed). OBTW, the solo act
lacked
crispness as well ... the simo tuckunder was done in loose cruise.

I've always felt a lot of sympathy for these guys. They're attracted to
the
team for maybe the wrong reasons. Go through a rush process (that's a
kick
to see the wannabees ... we're talking about senior Lt's or Lcdr's with
somewhere well north of 1500 hours tactical jet time ... showing up at the
shows as eager as college freshmen). When they get to El Centro, the new
guys find out what the Blue Angel experience is all about: darn hard
work,
being the Navy's reps 24/7, not a lot of family time. The payoff is doing
something very few aviators get to do with a level of precision second to
none. That can be immensely gratifying. But the price they pay is high.
It takes a special breed to do what they do, and I'm not talking about the
air work.

R / John