They called it the Freedom Launch to commemorate 9/11. It was the largest display of Airpower at the base since the 50's.

7 C-17's
10 KC-10's
5 C-5's

All in Airborne 36 minutes...Why you ask..?Because we can! Merica!!

We can you think. But we cannot launch the Blue Angels cus of budget cuts. Do the Thunderbirds still exist?

Looks like you love your job and that is good. That would have been a neat site to watch. Was there any advertising of this event. They could have sold seats

Tim

I'm a transport plane buff! I would have really enjoyed seeing that in person. In fact, I'd much rather watch the work horses do their thing over watching the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels.

Thank you Joey and thanks to all the other service men and women that are all over this globe away from their family and friends serving and protecting the United States of America!

I'm hoping that this demonstration was also a "working" airlift flight.

That would be an awful lot of fuel and money and global warmers and man-hours and dead leading edge insects if it was just a show.

A HUGE number and disturbing percentage of US Military Veterans of the Iraq/Afghan wars come back with serious needs and issues, substance abuse, mental illness, joblessness, homelessness, etc. etc. US Veteran homelessness, substance abuse, mental illness, (and combinations of all 3) is staggering.

6 months ago, I wrote a proposal for a VA funded program (SSVF) to provide behavioral health and housing support services for these people. As part of the research for this contract proposal, I found out that because of all these issues, the VA statistically classifies any veteran of the Iraq/Afghan wars as automatically being at risk of homelessness.

I like watching the Thunderbirds too, but not at the expense of failing to fix Veteran homelessness or PTSD because there is not enough resources to help these people.

I think sometimes we forget the emotional trauma that besets many returning vets. As a Viet Nam era vet (not a VN vet, but era), I'm more familiar with the trauma of that period. But it was real then, and I have no doubt that it's real now--and we have something like 70,000 service-folk on the ground in Afghanistan now with another high number in Iraq.

I have a real problem with the excuses of government, that "we" can't afford to do this or that, especially when it comes to providing services to returning service people. They give lots, and they deserve lots in return.

It's trite to say "freedom isn't free", but the cost is often much greater than we realize. Our young people come home with so many injuries, and not all of them are as visible as missing arms or legs. Our government needs to spend more money on them and less on expensive perks for our so-called "leaders", most of whom couldn't lead themselves out of a wet paper bag.

Cary