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04/24/2007: "They Also Serve Who Only Loop The Loop"

You might not know it from the sanitized coverage given by our newsmedia, but there's a war going on right now. Whether you agree with the reasons for the war or not, the fact is that hundreds of thousands of soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen are currently in harm's way doing your bidding, or at least keeping you from having to serve yourself.

But those in Iraq and Afganistan are only the tip of the spear. For every scared 19-yr-old riding shotgun in a Humvee on some Baghdad backstreet, there are dozens of other military personnel serving in various capacities all around the world - some seemingly far removed from the horrors of war.

Perhaps no military assignment fits that bill quite so much as working with the military flight demonstration squadrons - the Air Force's Thunderbirds or the Navy's Blue Angels. Flying weapons of war converted into the ultimate recruiting tools, these teams thrill millions of civilians each year with their demonstrations of precision flying skills and seemingly death-defying stunts.

Sometimes, though, things go wrong. Death is not defied, and the horrors of war are brought into someone's backyard. Such was the case Saturday when Blue Angel 6, piloted by Lt. Cdr Kevin J. Davis USN, was scattered throughout a neighborhood in South Carolina. One moment it was amazing skills on display, the next it was carnage and destruction.

I've seen the tape of the accident, and despite reports that the plane tumbled out of the sky, I believe it was an unfortunate pilot error. Davis was flying the "opposing solo" position in the formation, which means while most of the group are flying in formation, he and the lead solo pilot spend most of the show hurtling at each other at a combined 1500 mph and praying they don't hit each other. As a result, Davis found himself far from the formation as the end of the show neared, and had to make a tight turn to pull back into his place in the group. As he did so, it appeared that he was too low, and when the plane inevitably sank during the turn, he clipped a pine tree. You know the rest.

The media spent a lot of time showing smoke and wreckage, but I prefer to remember Blue Angel 6 as shown above - flying proud earlier in the show. The MarlinBlog salutes the memory of Lt. Cdr. Davis and all those who wear the uniform, no matter what their assigned duties.