Originally Posted by
USMCFLYR
How times have changed.
There are times when NSAWC/TopGun now makes recruiting trips to the different bases to try and lure some people to Fallon. They talk up the hunting, fishing, and camping opportunities. I sat behind one such future TopGun IP and asked him when he went through the course (I thought he might know some of my buddies), and found out that he had not yet even been through the course!
Yeah, Miramar has a touch more to offer than Fallon. I think there was no follow on orders commitment to Topgun (maybe even Blues) orders until the mid-90s and that might have begun the change, with the move to Fallon finishing it off. Like the Blues, once you learn what it entails, Topgun IP sounds like a job that's much cooler to say you do it than actually do it, at least for me (not that it mattered). Still hard to believe how far it's come (fallen).
I had a chance to fly with the Blues when I was an RAG IP and we were det'ing at their winter practice home. It is something that I could do for a month or three, but like Hacker said - I joined the Corps to fly gray jets, not Blue ones. I even like formation - for coming into the break - but not all day, every day; plus they shake hands too much and I don't like the attention/public affairs aspect that comes with the job. I rather sit at my static and watch the world go by. Btw - I think some of the best flying that I saw during the ride-along was away from show center. Rejoins happen in a whole other dimension!
Well said.
On another note, I know of a Marine who was both a Blue Angel and Topgun IP. Don't know if he's the only one to do both.