It was a bright sunny day with hardly any clouds in the sky other than the
ones composed by the aircrafts themselves. The excitement in the month of
October begins with the fantastic aerial show by the Blue Angels, Team Oracle,
and the Air Force's A-10 Demonstration Team from the US Navy flying about the
city of San Francisco on October 5th - 10th for their 60th anniversary.
"We know what you did last weekend: You grabbed the kids, threw a
picnic basket in the back seat, and headed on down to the waterfront for Fleet
Week!" said the SF Weekly News. Quite funny if you ask me. I can totally
relate to that, except, we ARE the kids.
That was a great day for a picnic though. I went for one with my
JROTC battalion. Just for those who didn't know, it stands for Junior Reserve
Officer Training Corps. It teaches you to be leaders and good citizens, not to
fight in wars and cause more bloodshed. We had everyone there! Well, we actually
had everyone from our chain of command there. Technically speaking, there were
only a few freshmen there, just 5 or 6.
And if you did get the chance to go to SFO, you would've seen the Blue
Angels take off into the sky in sync with the others. There, were a bunch of
other surprises too. They had the VP-206 and the VFA-14! The VFA-14 Tophatters
are a United States Navy fighter attack squadron based at Naval Air Station
Lemoore. But it was stationary, it didn't go anywhere. Mostly all we did was
walk around and see what else they had on for show. All the adults were buying
t-shirts and electronics as souvenirs. But, for this event, you pay for the
ticket. No let-ins without one. But then we got in because we're special. Just
kidding, I don't know how we got the tickets, maybe it's because everyone
still thinks JROTC is "army training."
De da daa! Now, for the breathtaking air show, you don't have to be at
anyplace particular. You can see them while walking out on campus after school,
or out the window at work. Some great but popular spots were Crissy Field by the
Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's Wharf, and by any of San Francisco's
waterfronts.
The good areas were first-come first-serve and you had to stay in a tight
bunched up place. And so, it was a fabulous week to go see that the US Army had
provided for us.
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