You're not alone. I've experienced similar feelings here in PA. Now, I realize that the Blue Angels might be a bit more ground shaking having witnessed their arial ballet in Seattle several times, but we live not far from a Naval base. It also appears that my house is directly under the flight path for training missions. Late last summer, as I sat on my deck, ejoying the view of a peaceful meadow bordered by a small but lush wood, my quiet afternoon was suddenly ripped apart. Ever seen the big Huey trasport copters? They're rather intimidating and the noise seemed to go on forever and the compression slapped at my offended ears and suddenly I was frantic to see it. Make sure it was one of ours. And then I too, felt empathically linked to all the innocent families just trying to get by who now live in fear of those same sounds. They too probably look to the skies in panic, hoping, praying, that it's NOT one of ours. I feel ya.
I was out working the night we (Georgia and Lockheed AFB) sent out the first jets to Desert Storm. It was a clear, starry evening and the temperatures were perfect for collecting money from paper boxes.
I too was clueless that night. I was in the dirext path of one of Locheed's runways. I felt them coming before I heard them. The gound rumbled... then I heard the engines roar as they geared up for takeoff. It was so loud that I covered my ears. I looked to the sky naturally and what a sight I beheld! One jet right after the other (8 inall) took off from the field and flew right over the top of me.
I will never forget the sight of what seemed like rockets passing over my head. Their engines flaming like rockets against the black canvas of the night sky. Was I scared out of my wits? yes! I have that sight still imprinted in my mind. I remember the scare being replaced by an awsome thrill of seeing the power of the might of those jets. That thrill was instantly replaced with my small prayers to the men in those planes to make it back home safely.
We used to have USAF jets fly over. Not on any kind of schedule, just some training missions.This was before Sept 11. I assume that they must have people to see & places to go now. We would usually hear them long before we'd see them. Very disconcerting when on horseback.... WHOA!!!!
I don't want to imagine the fear.
I always feel the same way when I see such a spectacle. I am curious why some people feel empathy for the people who will (are) terrified by our war machines, vs. the people who feel pride that we can kick so much ass.
I remember once I was golfing on a rainy day in Colorado Springs. I heard an inexplicable roar, and a B1 bomber flew straight over my head, about 100 feet in the air.
Scared the living crap out of me.
I'd imagine that all of you (the original poster and those who have added their own comments) would be a hell of a lot more scared if the planes flying overhead belonged to any number of the nations/terrorist factions that hate America and have pledged to kill Americans. I don't always agree with the ways our government chooses to use our military resources, but I do sleep better at night knowing that we have a sophisticated military in place to protect us.
Amanda - I am suspecting that you are a 20-something that grew up without the fears of WWII, the Korean Conflict, Vietnam, etc etc etc.
Some of us were born and raised in the "Duck and Cover" era. Do you know what that means? Well Let me explain it in short terms. We were born in and near the 50's and we were all taught that if the sirens went off or the teacher screamed "DUCK!!", we were to DUCK to the ground and COVER our heads with whatever we had... mainly our arms and our school desks. We fully understand what it means to have OUR jets flying over head. We also grew up knowing that 3 out of 5 kids lived in houses with bomb shelters. It was the cold war and we were very afraid the jets would not be ours. The Civil Defense Department of our great country sent out films to every school in America with a little character called Bert the Turtle. With this film they instilled fear in children that we could be attacked by the soviets. I personally went through many D&C drills. When I would hear planes over head I would look up in terror that they would not be ours. Yes, we have since then been attacked on american soil. But back then the fear was very real in every child in the US. Go here and read if you need to understand more:
http://www.conelrad.com/duckandc...r.php?
turtle=01
Please don't preach to us what it means to be afraid. Trust me, we know.
Amanda: I appreciate your point, and it is well-taken. But please note that my posting was NOT an indictment of the military or of our government at all. Not THIS time, anyway. It was an honest, personal telling of an experience that was very real for me. Yes, I am glad that those jets were OURS, not somebody else's. Yes, I am glad that in a dangerous world, we have sophisticated technology and people brave enough to risk their lives using it to protect us from external threats. But that was not the point. I was putting myself in someone else's shoes, something that I suggest you and everyone else do once in awhile. It's good for you. And for other living things.
Your language "they hate America, etc" suggests a simplistic view of the world that is perpetuated by our government's propaganda. The fact is, NOBODY "hates" America. "Hate" just doesn't play into it at all, and it's a stupid, simplistic word that politicians use to justify actions that are far more complex than they want you to know.
The world runs on economics and power, and countries and individuals will act in accordance with what they perceive as their own best interest -- whether or not it actually IS in the long run. Yes, there are SOME people out there who have views that are dangerous to you; views you don't understand. But no Muslim extremist, for example, would have given his own life to destroy a building in New York, if he didn't perceive America as his enemy -- and it was the short-sighted, narrow-minded policies of our government which made us a target of those extremists. It is not simply a black-and-white world, no matter how much the Bush camp would like you to believe that it is. Decades of shit led up to 9/11, and even if you don't believe the conspiracy theorists who claim that the current Bush Administration played a direct role in the attacks, I can show you, point by point, how our government acted irresponsibly, short-sightedly, and with little regard for human life or suffering, for many many years prior to finally creating the conditions in which 9/11 happened. Most of it is right there on record, unclassified, public knowledge. You don't have to look for secret documents or cover-ups; just simply look at the way the so-called Superpowers abused their power in the Middle East and other regions at the expense of the people there for the last sixty years since WWII.
Am I glad to be an American and not, say, a Saudi or a Rwandan? You bet. Am I proud of the way our so-called leaders have been handling things for the last several decades? No fucking way. The two are NOT mutually exclusive, my friend.
True patriotism is not rooted in fear. We are the most powerful nation on Earth, and we COULD use that power to solve the problems of the world, but instead we use it the same way the Roman Empire did. The same way the Spanish Empire did. The same way The British Empire did (And quite possibly soon, in the same way the Nazis did). And do you see those empires with any significant power left today? Nope. Do you know why? Do you get it?
If you truly want (The United States of) America to succeed, you will want it to be a peaceful, progressive nation that is open to new ideas and perpetuates peace and cooperation throughout the world. If you are a true patriot, you will not be a warmonger, because that way ALWAYS leads to self-destruction. it always HAS, and it always WILL.
Don't believe the hype from the Radical Right. They don't care about YOU or your "American Way of Life" -- they care about domination, and they want to dominate YOU just as much as they want to dominate Arabs. You are a pawn in their scheme, and one day you will be forced to see that, when the jets flying overhead ARE "ours", but they aren't YOURS.
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Well said Bri
Amanda, you have demonstrated a jingoistic attitude that is so blind that it scares me. You see, I am a career soldier, 17 years in the Army, and I have learned that the only way we can keep our country OUR COUNTRY is to stay informed and involved. The minute that we let anybody do our thinking for us we allow them to claim that they speak with our voice. I refuse to let any-damn-body except ME speak with my voice.
Brian, while I agree with you in principle, I must point out that JFK said it best when he said (I am paraphrasing because I don't remember the exact quote) that the only way to secure peace is to prepare for war. It's not just the radical right that is dangerous, it is the radical left. Unilateral disarmament does nothing except paint a target on our collective back. This is not to say that we are doing all the right things, but I will say that we are doing some of the right things and learning better every day.
Carlo -- I totally agree with you on your first few points, and, believe it or not, I did my time in the Army too, way back when. Mindless radical ANYTHING is dangerous and stupid. But I wasn't trying to write a treatise on all the things that should be or shouldn't be done in the world; my posting was long enough already. I was responding to Amanda, and HER view of the world is the one that the Radical Right has been so effective at foisting on us lately. I haven't heard much from the Radical Left since the '70s -- in fact, I'm sorta wondering what the hell happened to them. With all this jingoistic crap going around, we sorta need them to balance things out a bit. Where's Abbie Hoffman when you need him, eh?
Anyway, I never said anything about disarmament (that would be stupid, especially since we've helped make the world an even more dangerous place than it ever was before) -- besides, we've got more weaponry than we even know what to do with, but that didn't prevent 9/11, did it?
And as far as doing "some things right," all I can say is maybe. I'd like to see a list of them. I don't think we've done too many things right lately. We can't even clean up the messes we've made from doing things wrong. And learning more every day? I hope you're right. We'll see. What country are we gonna invade NEXT with some lame fabricated excuse? I can only HOPE the American people are learning something, but personally I don't think we've seen enough American body bags to learn much of ANYTHING...yet.
Anyway, peace y'all.
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Addressing only Bri's post - as I am still a little brain-dead from an exhausting weekend - I was born and bred in the Navy and lived on two of the naval bases that were home to the Blue Angels - Pensacola, FL and El Centro, CA (yes, there is a naval base in the middle of the desert...), so I became very familiar with the Blue Angels as a child. I used to watch their shows every year and was thrilled by them. As a consequence of that (and currently living pretty close to a commercial airport) the sound of airplanes flying overhead are only noticeable to me if the noise is drowning out conversation or the television. I don't know it this is a good thing or bad thing. It just is.
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