Expensive Fly-By
An article from yesterday's Sacramento Bee bugged me most of the day for a couple of reasons. Here's the basic info from the article:
Between 9:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. a KC-135 refueling aircraft, two F-16 fighters and a U-2 reconnaissance plane rattled windows as politicians on the steps of the Capitol welcomed the start of Air Force Week. The Air Force is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.
Later Monday, a KC-10 transport plane and T-38 supersonic jet trainer thrilled fans at Raley Field in West Sacramento.
The activities are intended to have residents reflect on the Air Force's role, and they culminate with the California Capital Airshow on Saturday and Sunday at Mather Airport. The event's headliner is the U.S. Air Force's Thunderbirds precision flying team. [Emphasis added]
A sidebar to the article contained a partial list of the military aircraft which would be participating in the airshow:
• Airbus A-300
• B-1 bomber
• C-130 Hercules
• C-5 Galaxy
• EA-6 Prowler
• F-15 Eagle
• F-18 Hornet
Now, I know that a lot of people are genuinely interested in airplanes, especially those of the military variety. After all, we paid for those craft and I guess we are entitled to see how our money was spent. Still, it has to be pretty expensive to send all of this flying hardware to buzz the California capital, if only in terms of jet fuel, which I suspect costs even more than regular unleaded gasoline.
And for what? A public relations campaign and recruitment drive for the Air Force? Look, most folks are well-aware of the national defense role of the Air Force, and I doubt that the Air Force is having the same recruitment problems that the Army is having. I think there's more going on here.
The subtext reminds me of those May Day parades in Moscow we used to see on television during the Soviet era: miles of tanks, artillery pieces, soldiers, all on display to show the military might of that nation to its citizens and to the world. The Air Force fly-bys mentioned in the article have the same muscle-flexing feel to them. It's a kind of less lethal "shock and awe," one calculated to show Americans and the rest of the world just how powerful we are.
And I'm very uncomfortable with that display.
Between 9:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. a KC-135 refueling aircraft, two F-16 fighters and a U-2 reconnaissance plane rattled windows as politicians on the steps of the Capitol welcomed the start of Air Force Week. The Air Force is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.
Later Monday, a KC-10 transport plane and T-38 supersonic jet trainer thrilled fans at Raley Field in West Sacramento.
The activities are intended to have residents reflect on the Air Force's role, and they culminate with the California Capital Airshow on Saturday and Sunday at Mather Airport. The event's headliner is the U.S. Air Force's Thunderbirds precision flying team. [Emphasis added]
A sidebar to the article contained a partial list of the military aircraft which would be participating in the airshow:
• Airbus A-300
• B-1 bomber
• C-130 Hercules
• C-5 Galaxy
• EA-6 Prowler
• F-15 Eagle
• F-18 Hornet
Now, I know that a lot of people are genuinely interested in airplanes, especially those of the military variety. After all, we paid for those craft and I guess we are entitled to see how our money was spent. Still, it has to be pretty expensive to send all of this flying hardware to buzz the California capital, if only in terms of jet fuel, which I suspect costs even more than regular unleaded gasoline.
And for what? A public relations campaign and recruitment drive for the Air Force? Look, most folks are well-aware of the national defense role of the Air Force, and I doubt that the Air Force is having the same recruitment problems that the Army is having. I think there's more going on here.
The subtext reminds me of those May Day parades in Moscow we used to see on television during the Soviet era: miles of tanks, artillery pieces, soldiers, all on display to show the military might of that nation to its citizens and to the world. The Air Force fly-bys mentioned in the article have the same muscle-flexing feel to them. It's a kind of less lethal "shock and awe," one calculated to show Americans and the rest of the world just how powerful we are.
And I'm very uncomfortable with that display.
Labels: The Military
posted by Diane at 3:23 AM
1 Comments:
The recruitment angle won't work. If it doesn't work here in my rural red state community, it certainly is not going to work in California.
Of my daughter's graduating HS class (175 students), only ONE kid joined the armed services.
Usually they grab 5 or 6 people but for all of OUR MONEY that they spent on pizza parties, games, paint ball, and propaganda they only managed one lower level flunky kid who had the lowest score on the ASFAB possible (he told my daughter what his score was, her scores were 99 across the board and they called here all the time until my husband, a retired Marine LtCOl told them to leave her the fuck alone.)
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