Originally Posted by buzzpat

That's the one thing I miss about the Air Force...hard work, commitment, integrity meant you rose above your peers. You weren't just a number. OTOH, being just a number has its merits also.

Originally Posted by Thunderbirds CO in AOPA

“Would you guys melt if you got past the city limits sign?” I asked. “Pretty much. We get to deal with the Tasers,” joked Lt. Col. Greg Moseley, commander of the 119-person U.S. Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron.

Since recruiting was limited mostly to Las Vegas in 2013, could we see an Elvis impersonator one day as team boss? “I’m hoping,” Moseley said. “I wish I could grow out those sideburns. If I could, I think I’d be a big hit.”

Thunderbird personnel have been to Las Vegas schools so often they are on a first-name basis with some of the students. “To be completely honest,” Moseley said from his office at Nellis Air Force Base, “probably the guidance counselors and principals got to the point where they were like, ‘Will you guys please leave? You’ve been here every week!’”

Enlisted personnel ended up checking passes at the front gate of Nellis Air Force Base and conducting base housing inspections. “I told my staff to put a person in a Thunderbird uniform on every corner at Nellis and find me a way to support the Nellis installation.”

All members of the U.S. Air Force Aerial Demonstration Team were encouraged to take classes. Most were aimed at career advancement, but not all. Thunderbird 5, lead solo pilot Maj. Blaine Jones, got a master’s degree in bakery science and management—the family business he left to join the air force. You can see him talk about it on YouTube.

From April 5 to July 23 the Thunderbirds practiced the ground portion of their show and pilots were allowed to start up and taxi down the runway, but not to take off. “We joked around and called it the elephant walk,” Moseley said. “We taxied at less than 15 knots.”