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Got a real reminder about what Memorial Day is really all about last weekend. Last Saturday, on account of my wife's cousin, whose a crew chief for the USN's Blue Angels, we got an invite to see their show in South Jersey, and got the full VIP treatment from those young Swabbies. 
. Saw an old Wildcat (the FM1 GM knockoff, not the original Grumman F4F -- just so happened that that FM1 was built in NJ in 1943) a B-25, a team from NJAFNG's 177th JTAC team helicopter into and out of the show -- suspended by ropes from the bellies of their UH-60s, and of course the Angels oohig and aahing the crowd. Great show, can't recommend it enough.
The next day, the SEALs' "Leap Frogs" put on a demonstration at Liberty State Park. One of the parachutists suffered some kind of malfunction.
A whole crowd watched as he plunged to his death. Even when the bullets aren't flying, theirs is still a very risky profession.
Memorial Day isn't about us old farts. It's about the young guys -- and girls -- still facing those dangers, and those who didn't get the chance to become old farts.
. Saw an old Wildcat (the FM1 GM knockoff, not the original Grumman F4F -- just so happened that that FM1 was built in NJ in 1943) a B-25, a team from NJAFNG's 177th JTAC team helicopter into and out of the show -- suspended by ropes from the bellies of their UH-60s, and of course the Angels oohig and aahing the crowd. Great show, can't recommend it enough.The next day, the SEALs' "Leap Frogs" put on a demonstration at Liberty State Park. One of the parachutists suffered some kind of malfunction.
A whole crowd watched as he plunged to his death. Even when the bullets aren't flying, theirs is still a very risky profession.Memorial Day isn't about us old farts. It's about the young guys -- and girls -- still facing those dangers, and those who didn't get the chance to become old farts.
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