Happy (Belated...) Birthday, US Air Force!

 Last week, on September 17th, the United States Air Force celebrated a birthday.

I've always had a fasciation with the air force. I credit a few things for this. First, I grew up a few miles from an air force base, Hill AFB, specifically. I remember seeing, then hearing fighter jets scream overhead...F-4s, then F-16s, now F-35s. Though I never seriously considered enlisting, if I did I think I would have tied joining the Air Force.

The second reason the Air Force interests me is because for years--decades, even--I thought my father served in the US Air Force during World War II. This was perhaps the greatest reason why the Air Force fascinates me. Now, if you know anything about the United States involvement in WWII, you know that the US Air Force did not exist during the war. Before the Air Force existed, air corps belonged to the Army, Navy, and Marines. My father was assigned to the Army Air Corp.

For a child growing up without a father, I think I was drawn to things associated with him. Whenever I see WWII footage or see a picture of a B-17, I think of him.

Happy birthday, US Air Force. The world has entirely changed since you were born. I wonder what you'll see in the next seventy-six years.

Give Thanks...For Those Planes

We traveled south last week, had a few errands to run. We stopped at a store in Ogden, my wife ran inside and that's when the F-35s flew overhead. I watched them circle, then fly to Hill Air Force Base where they landed.

Man, I miss those planes.

Those planes were my childhood, or my childhood from my teenage years up. When I went to jr. high school in Kaysville, we heard the roar of those jets everyday. I think back then they flew F-4s, then F-16s. Now, they fly F-35s (the F-16s are my favorite...). We'd be in class. The teacher would have to stop his or her lecture until the roar dimmed, then they would resume. I was only a student--others who lived in southern Weber County and northern Davis County dealt with the jets all the time. I'm sure they just accepted it, like us student did.

When I worked in Clearfield, we had a huge window facing north. We saw the planes take off and land, and once, we even saw the planes practicing for an air show, something people used to put on and attend before everything went to crap.

I'm grateful for those planes, what they represent, what they mean to the community and for the country. I'm grateful for the men and women who dedicate themselves to the service of others. I hope those in the planes screaming overhead and the crews keeping them aloft know that we're grateful and we love seeing them up there.

We now live north and the only planes I've seen are the passenger jets 35k feet in the air or small single-engine Cessnas. 

Not the same...