The Canadians outdid themselves with this. As a matter of fact our European allies generally do a better job at this than we do.
And that is a shame.
We have demonstration teams for our Harriers I know for a fact and why don't we follow the lead of others (not in all things mind you but in this case, its a damn good idea).
Lets dump the haze gray and get that bird outfitted in some striking colors with US Marine Corps emblazoned proudly on the side? Selling the Marine Corps is something that we've got to get started on again.
Despite what some in HQMC believe, I think that the funding war is nothing more than a fight for the life of our Corps.
And don't you believe that many aren't after our missions.
The US Army is DESIGNING medium weight Brigades that are supposedly air transportable that fight across the spectrum of warfare.
SOCOM (to include our own Recon/Force Recon and MARSOC) are aiming to be the small wars specialist. Something that we took pride in doing for over 100 years...
The USAF is touting its ability to respond to disasters using its C-17 and C-130's...even going so far as establishing task forces to get the job done.
We're fighting for the life of our Corps. Painting an airplane to start selling the Corps is a simple step to start the process...and well done Canucks!
Sol,
ReplyDeleteI your idea is a good one, we need to sell the Marine Corps! Unfortunetly, the jets the demonstration pilots in the Navy and Marine Corps use are fleet jets for their airshow performance. Maintenance gives them an UP jet, often one that flew a training flight earlier that day. I am not sure how the Canadians do it, but it appears that a certain jet is groomed for air show use, much like the Blue Angels.
WOW. i didn't know that. but even if that's the case how hard would it be to make the CAG bird, the air show Harrier for a season and just rotate it around the fleet? i mean heck we could paint a bunch of airplanes for the centennial of flight?
ReplyDeletethis shouldn't be a big lift!