MARTINA'S WORLD TRIP

UNITED STATES: September 26 - December 3, 2004
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Saturday, November 13th, 2004 - Air Show at the Naval Air Station Pensacola
You’ll never believe where I was today – well yeah, no big surprise anymore after you have read the headline but isn’t that something? I honestly never thought I would find myself on a military base somewhere in the middle of American no man’s land (= Pensacola) to watch some suicidal pilots doing crazy things with their strange-looking planes. But I did! And here is how it was:

We arrived at the base shortly before 9 am because Aaron was scheduled to serve beer in one of the many tents set up on the field where the air show took place. As there weren’t many visitors around yet (what a surprise at a beer tent at 9 am in the morning), we set off for a little tour of the surroundings before Aaron had to be back for work. You basically have to imagine the whole scene as a fairground, just that the fun ride attractions were real aircrafts. There were planes of all sizes and different types, although most of them were obviously from the military. The exception to this was a FedEx Boeing that visitors could enter and walk through on the inside. FedEx was one of the sponsors of the event who also had their stands set up amongst the many beer tents and food stalls. As far as the exposed planes are concerned, I am not especially a fan of military aircrafts, so I didn’t spend too much time checking them all out. There were some that I found interesting and I guess having Aaron around to explain a few things helped. (For those who don’t know, he’s a flight instructor with the Navy.) There were even two jets of the German Airforce whose pilots are partially trained here in Pensacola – as were some of the 9/11 terrorists I believe. What I liked most was to be able to get a close look at some of the technical details of the aircrafts, especially in areas you wouldn’t normally get to see. Plus, as a true teenager of the 80s, I had to check out the F14 in which Tom Cruise flew straight into the girly hearts of a whole generation when he starred in Top Gun. Of course, this was not the exact plane he sat in but there was another one that had indeed carried a famous passenger: the very first military jet that ever transported a President of the United States was an S3 that had been brought to Pensacola right after flying George W. Bush from San Diego to an aircraft carrier off the coast in spring 2003, in order to thank the homecoming American troops for their deployment in the Persian Golf. Since then, this S3 is on exhibition at the Naval Air Museum here but today it was out on the field together with all the other planes. (Did you know that they can fold up their wings in order to save space when they are parked on a carrier?)

When we first arrived, there weren’t too many people at the airfield yet but it quickly filled up with thousands of visitors who were equipped as if they were coming for an ongoing sit-in: they brought their foldable camping chairs, blankets, picnic and coffee in thermos flasks. Some carried big binoculars or cameras with huge objectives on a tripod. Today being an exceptionally cold day for Florida, I was freezing, had to keep standing for the next four hours and only had a few candy bonbons on me, which is why I was truly impressed by these people’s ‘professionalism’ in preparing their attendance of an air show. I was clearly outing myself as a first-timer compared to all these pros. What really swept me off my feet though, was when the presenter, whose voice could be heard from gigantic loudspeakers everywhere on the field but whom I never managed to see in person, announced the American National Anthem shortly before the actual flight performances began. A female voice found its way through the loudspeakers and started singing – not even very well by the way. And suddenly, time seemed to stand still. Every individual stopped doing what they were doing, people turned towards where the voice came from, military personnel lifted their arms to salute and every civilian put their right hand on their heart. A lot of people moved their lips while mouthing the anthem’s words and everybody looked very dignified and serious. For me, it was a surreal scene. Never had I seen anything like that before and it seemed so ridiculous that it was almost hard not to laugh. On the one hand, I couldn’t believe what I saw but then again, wasn’t it somehow cute and admirable to watch all these people expressing their patriotism? Maybe being German, I just have this problem with national pride because I was simply not educated to feel it. But I don’t know anyone who does to this extend and wonder if scenes like the one I just described would happen anywhere in Europe. If you ever witnessed anything comparable in your country, please let me know and help me broaden my horizon!

After the anthem had finished, the actual flight show started and for the next four hours various planes took off and did all sorts of crazy – not to say suicidal or plain stupid – stunts. I admit that some of them were quite impressive but above all, they were LOUD! Even the small propeller planes that started off the show, made a tremendous noise and their engines sounded like jets – which is why I ended up wearing ear plugs. At some point, a man in a biplane (Doppeldecker) got out of his seat and climbed on the upper wings. He was probably strapped to some support because he remained standing there, waving at the crowds, while the plane kept flying its loops and acrobatics – absolutely crazy if you ask me. Later on, the sky became the stage for bigger jet planes and their demonstrations. Some stunts were underlined by small explosions on the ground, followed by high up-shooting flames and huge clouds of dark smoke. Very dramatic. Twice a plane would race against a truck on the runway that was powered by an aircraft engine and sped up to over 500 km/h. The truck won both races and could only be slowed down by a parachute opening behind its rear end.

When Aaron was done with his duty at the beer tent shortly past noon, we had pizza for lunch and he showed me his workplace in one of the big hangers next to the airfield. The building had been severely damaged during the hurricane two months ago and lots of the damage was still visible. Actually, it almost got worse in the meantime because of some serious roof damage. So each time it rained, the whole building was leaking. Just a couple of days ago there was another rain storm and Aaron said, water ran down the stairways as if they were one big waterfall. Indeed many ceilings were wrecked inside the building, the carpets were ripped out and an entire wall on the outside, although still standing, had detached from the rest of the building. It looked pretty scary. If this had been a DuPont workplace, no way it would have been still in use!!

Just before we were leaving around 2:30 pm, it was finally time for the long-awaited highlight of this air show: the Blue Angels. After all, the event was called the “Blue Angel’s Homecoming Air Show” honouring Pensacola as the home base of the US Navy’s precision flight-demonstration team. Although they were flying incredibly low (I had the impression I could say hi to the pilots in their cockpit), it was basically impossible to take pictures of the jets, due to their enormous speed. But I admit, flying in amazingly precise formations of four to six planes, their performance was very good. Locally, the Blue Angels seem to be some sort of heroes. Several stands sold an amazing variety of merchandise articles and I did not leave without picking up one of these A3 paper signs that says: “We ♥ the Blues!” – and just in case you didn’t know what to do with it, it read in fine-print underneath: “Wave this card in support of the Blue Angels!” Unfortunately, I didn’t stay around long enough to see whether people were actually following this invitation because Aaron and I followed the Blue Angels performance from the car park. At this point, I figured that I should have stayed in the car the whole time, since this was actually the perfect spot to watch the air show: it was warmer than outside, much less noisy, I had a comfortable seat and an unhindered view!

Just before closing my report on this air show experience, some more thoughts on American patriotism. Triggered by the many flags people brought to the air show today, a woman who was dressed in a cardigan that was knitted in the style of the American flag and some discussions I had with Aaron, I wonder how bad it actually is. Seeing all the children at the air show, I can’t help but think that they already grow up in such an “God Bless America”-environment, that they are basically raised to become patriots. Later on, it takes a lot to question the basics of our childhood education and only very few people ever do that and then draw their own conclusions. Most of us simply take for granted what we were told when we were children and hold on to those ethics and values defining what is wrong and right for the rest of our lives. But the average American citizen doesn’t even need to come to a military air show where you may argue that at such a location, you are determined to be exposed to patriotism. No, the overall “We are proud to be Americans and defend the world’s freedom” message is directly brought to you in your home, free of charge and via the Americans’ favourite modern commodity: television. You just need to watch TV for a little while to get this impression, which was especially striking during the presidential election campaigns. Are the Americans even aware of the fact how weird their patriotic behaviour seems to an outsider? And is weird even the right word? Could I also call it exaggerated, ridiculous or intimidating? Even if you have never been to the US, you only have to watch some Hollywood movies á la Independence Day or Armageddon and you know that America will save the world. Movies like these might be exaggerated and yes, everyday life here is not THAT bad, but such blockbusters definitely don’t help to project a humble, selfless image of the US to the rest of the world. Instead, it fuels the American stereotype about their patriotic behaviour which lots of other nations like to make fun of. Then again, maybe we non-Americans like to ridicule their patriotism just because we are jealous. Wouldn’t it be nice to be proud of our country? If we are, then what is wrong with showing how we feel? And if we are not, we should perhaps ask ourselves what is wrong with our self-perception and national identity. And if that is the case, maybe the reason we denounce American patriotism, is our problem and not theirs. I’m not saying I have the answer to these questions, I’m just asking them.

Something else I noticed here are the many cars that bear labels of the US flag or stickers in shape of a yellow lanyard (Schleife) which is a “Support our troops” sign. Have you ever seen anything similar in Europe? Almost every second car in the street demonstrates in one way or the other that the owner is proud of his country and its people. And why wouldn’t they? Haven’t they accomplished an enormous task by conquering a whole new world and populating an entire continent in only 300 years ever since the first colonists started to live the American Dream? Which by the way is an expression the whole world understands and envies. Who would not want to rise from being a dish washer to become a millionaire? This is the land of opportunities where everything is possible and everyone can succeed if he only works hard enough. And look what they have achieved: From the very first settlers who mostly arrived without any funds, their only capital being their hands, skills and the dream of a better life, they built what America is today: a rich country that has earned its independence from the biggest empire of the era; an economy that has been striving for decades, culminating in unequalled skyscrapers as a symbol of their credo that only the sky is the limit; in other words: a powerful nation. Overall, I believe they do have reasons to be proud of what the American people have achieved over the years.

But then again, this country has its problems too and it’s not all gold that glitters. What about the poverty, discrimination and deterioration of America’s modern society? They suffer as much as any other first world nation from diseases of civilisation, such as environmental pollution, stress-related illnesses, brainwashing of the people thanks to the all-influencing media, and not to forget their legendary obesity. But sometimes it seems that all these tumours of human degeneration, just as everything else in America, are “extra large” compared to the rest of the world. Maybe those who rise the highest, are the ones to fall lower than everybody else. Add an XL portion of eagerness for power and delusions of grandeur, and America might be where the Roman Empire has been thousands of years ago. Okay, this comparison might not be quite scientifically correct but I hope you know what I’m trying to say: No matter how exceptional their historical development may seem, they should not forget that most of today’s civilisations had their era of glory. Most of our countries had a leadership that at some point expanded national borders to an incredible extent but just as a balloon filled with air, at some point the balloon explodes, the empire collapsed, and all that remained was a wizened piece of left-over. Plus, we all should remember that we basically gained our temporary superiority by dominating, fighting and partly extinguishing other people, tribes or races and no one can seriously be proud of that. As much as this is true for the Romans, the colonialistic British Empire, for the French under Napoleon, Stalin’s Mother Russia or for Germany during the Third Reich, it is equally true for America. And yet, they seem to forget that as much as they can be proud of what they achieved, they might be ashamed of some of the crimes they committed along the way - just like we all have. Why then, is there such difference in national pride and displayed patriotism between different cultures? Have some of us learned more than others? Or are we just not confident enough to stand up for what we believe in? After all, doesn’t true greatness lie in humbleness and gratitude, rather than continuous demonstration of power and narcissistic self-praise? Something to think about... America.
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