I think flying stunt teams in the military should be ended.

[Archae]

Like the Blue Angels.

Just too many have died.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5ZqXYt5-qA

[Hugabear]

1. They're a huge waste of taxpayer money

Their only purpose is to serve as pro-military propaganda.

[Archae]

2. Exactly.

In Milwaukee tomorrow the Navy will have the Blue Angels doing stunts to back up their recruting drive.

[Ozymanithrax]

3. They are also for recruiting. Seeing the Blue Angels fly is a sight...

and I've known kids who joined because some recruiter told them, "sure, you can fly with the Blue Angels"

[tekisui]

4. Like the other poster said. Pro-military propaganda.

Recruit them anyway you can.

[lib2DaBone]

6. Sure.. when you get out of boot camp they are going to send you to the Blue Angels...

It's easy to become a Thunderbird... Special forces is a camp out.. and you will be treated like a hero at home.



Sign here X___________________________
(press hard... 3 copies)

[Hugabear]

17. By the time they realize it's a bait-and-switch, it's too late for them

Classic military setup. Show kids all the flashy fighter jets, the newest tanks, all the futuristic stuff the military is working on. Give them some free videogames to play. Then once you've got them hooked, once they sign away their life over to the military, SURPRISE - here's a gun, go out there on the front line, dig those ditches, etc.

[The Midway Rebel]

5. Accidents are rare and the shows are awesome to watch but....

what a waste of fuel, talent and technology. They are a recruiting tool for the MIC.

I was at one last year and as a military jet formation roared overhead I heard a parent tell a child this, "Ya' hear that Timmy? Ya' know what that is? That is the sound of freedom!"


That was food for thought.

[New Dawn]

8. Strange how people believe the world's largest military bureaucracy = "freedom."

[truedelphi]

7. or they should change the name to "Not yet dead Blue Angels"

When I lived in a major metro area, knowing how they could crash, made the Weekends of their fly overs rather scary.

Especially if some Blue Angel had just crashed into houses a few days before.

But the military doesn't seem to care.

It is all part of being an "American."

[bobbolink]

10. Crashing and burning a neighborhood = fighting them here so we don't have to fight them there.

[truedelphi]

12. like yr Tubman sig line tells us and further suggests -

Most people are glad to be at risk, enslaved, scared and miserable, as long as they can refer to all that as being "patriotic."

[obxhead]

9. At the very least they should not be able to do their

stunts over populated areas. To many innocents have been killed by the nonsense and could have been completely avoided with common sense.

[cactusfractal]

11. It's not as if these are innocents unaware of the danger...

Pilots of fastmovers - and stunt pilots to an extreme - are adrenaline junkies. The danger makes it for them, and they represent the pointy end of the spear pretty damn well. Like it or not, there's a need for a military still. And since it's an all-volunteer force, some incentives other than "money for college" or "get the hell outta BFE" need to be put before the potential recruit pool, and the excitement of these hurtling pieces of technology can bring 'em in.

More servicemen die in motor vehicle accidents than in military aircraft, including combat aviation. A better savings of money and fuel would be closure of some of the 700-odd bases we have around the globe. A better savings of lives would be to get our forces the hell out of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Besides, that Rammstein accident was in '88... and it was Italians.

So long as there are men and women determined to go fast on the very edge, other men and women will pay to see them cheat death. If they aren't military, they'll be civilian. Personally, I love the military demo teams. And having worked on those noisy bastards, albeit the ones that go more "whup-whup-whup" than "whoosh", I believe that it IS the sound of freedom. Let us as Americans work to put that fearsome technology to use in defense of freedom, not pursuit of imperialism.

[FarCenter]

13. When planes fly over a stadium or racetrack, the organizers should pay the full costs

[A HERETIC I AM]

14. Maybe all motor racing should be ended as well because in 1955...

a crash occurred at Le Mans that killed more than 80 people.

I mean, if you are going to put up a video of an incident that happened 22 years ago, you might as well take the next step, right?

You also think a humorous ad campaign is "tormenting kids".

Any more faux outrage?

[anigbrowl]

15. I fell down the stairs once. we must ban staircases now!

You say 'too many have died' and yet you didn't even have a number. Let me guess, even one is too many etc. etc.

[Hugabear]

18. Stairs are necessary - are these flight demonstrations really necessary?

Your analogy holds no water. Sometimes you have no choice but to use stairs. There is no legitimate reason for these military aerial demonstrations. They're a luxury, a recruiting tool, propaganda. They're also a tremendous waste of money.

[anigbrowl]

19. no they're not, we're just used to them

As for air shows, they encourage right wingers to pay their taxes. I don't mind them.

[apocalypsehow]

16. I love the Blue Angels shows - I've seen them three times at different air shows.

Well worth every dime of this taxpayers money.