Air Force recruiting soars at annual show

Eric Leake

Monday, Nov. 15, 2004 | 10:58 a.m.

The C-5 Galaxy is one mammoth plane. It sat at the entrance to the Aviation Nation air show Sunday, cargo maw wide open, like a 247-foot-long, 65-foot-tall billboard for the Air Force.

Show-goers of all ages marveled at the planes, on display and in flight, at the annual Nellis Air Force Base show on a slightly windy but otherwise beautiful day far away from the fighting in Fallujah, Iraq.

An Air Force recruitment trailer welcomed those wanting the company of such marvels more than once a year.

"This is a chance for the base to open up and show what the Air Force is about," said Staff Sgt. Daniel Short, who worked recruitment Saturday.

Short said Air Force recruiters work many special events, but none offer the same opportunity as the air show when the public is actually visiting the base and walking the tarmac.

Short extolled the Air Force's virtue as a means to a better life through education and a career.

"There are a lot of jobs out there but not necessarily a lot of careers," he said.

But for Cameron Bryant, 17, it was all about the flying the planes.

Bryant and his friends talked to a recruiter and took a bag of promotional fliers, posters and other goods. He was interested in the Air Force before the show and coming to it only confirmed his ideas.

He explained the appeal of the Air Force. "With the Army there's too much chance to get killed. With the Navy; I don't like water. The Marines is dangerous."

And, he said, there is the new F/A-22 Raptor.

"That's the plane I'm going to fly," he said.

Bryant, who recently moved to Las Vegas, said his only disappointment was that the Raptor did not showcase more of its amazing maneuverability during its flyover. Otherwise he enjoyed the show.

Eduardo Choto, 15, was also excited by the planes.

"Being here, seeing all the warplanes, it makes you want to join the Air Force more," Choto said. "Thinking of flying one of the warplanes would be really awesome."

Choto is a student at the Advanced Technologies Academy. He visited the show with his father, grandfather, cousin and friend. Choto's family emigrated from El Salvador though he was born in the United States.

Choto's father, Luis, said that he would support his son if he decided to join the Air Force as long as he understood the commitment.

"I'll be glad as long as he likes it," he said. "I support him in whatever he wants to do."

Karin Odell collected recruitment material for her 17-year-old daughter, Alyson, who couldn't attend because she was grounded.

Alyson, she said, was interested in joining the Air Force not to fly but because it could help her become a doctor.

"You have to support your child in their dream, and that's her dream to become a doctor," Odell said.

She said it was hard, though, because achieving such a dream through the military is not without risk, which worried Odell. She said she had already lost a husband and a son to cancer and poor medical treatment.

The risk of casualty at a time of war is something all branches of the military deal with in recruiting, Short said.

"No matter what's going on in the world there's good people who are ready to do America's business, who are ready to go out there and serve their country, who are looking for good career opportuniies and we provide that," he said.

Little mention of the ongoing war in Iraq was made at the tents or over the loudspeakers, other than patriotic words of support for the troops oversees.

At the Army recruiters' tent, adjacent to the Air Force recruiters, the crowd was not quite as thick.

Capt. Richard Barton, who manned the tent, was not deterred. He said recruiting for the Army at an air show was "easy."

"Because when they crash, they can't walk away from it. If my Humvee crashes, I can walk away from it," he said.

He said that nobody can compete with the Army because it has a larger air force than the Air Force and more ships than the Navy.

The Army, though, does not have the Thunderbirds demonstration team, which closed the show both Saturday and Sunday with their homecoming performance.

The Thunderbirds roared over the crowds, afterburners lit like giant Roman candles.

As the Thunderbirds landed, people started heading for the buses home. Before they left, an announcer invited them to visit the pilots who, he said, would be glad to tell them all about opportunities in the Air Force.