John Marshall's right. In his letter on today's page, Marshall thanks the men and women of Grand Forks Air Force Base for their hard work in putting on the Thunder over the Red River air show.
The base personnel (and many others who helped out, such as the Grand Forks County Sheriff's Department) deserve that thanks and more.
It's hard for spectators to appreciate the staggering workload that goes into planning an air show, especially one that hosts military air demonstration squadrons such as the Thunderbirds and expects tens of thousands of spectators.
Herald staff writer Tu-Uyen Tran's story about the air show got some of the effort across:
"The Thunderbirds performance was the culmination of months of work by hundreds of staff members. ... Every airman in town was working Saturday, (Grand Forks Air Force Base commander Col. Don) Shaffer said. Even those out of uniform and manning the concession stands are airmen, he said. Some airmen won't get a day off until Monday, he said. ...
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"'We've been working on this almost a year,' said Lt. Col. Brad Baugh, who was charged with organizing the show. Six months ago, he said, his crew started in earnest.
"It got even more intense the past three months when something like 1,000 personnel often worked 16 to 18 hour days, Shaffer said."
On the Air Force's part, there's some self-interest at work. Military air bases sponsor air shows in part to serve as recruiting tools and get the service's message and image across.
But those goals don't come close to justifying the months-long dedication and huge amounts of manpower and organization that a big air show demands. So what does justify that effort?
Pride. Patriotism. And gratitude, for the great gifts of being American, of enjoying our nation's rights and freedoms -- and of being stationed at Grand Forks Air Force Base, in the heart of one of the most military-friendly regions in the entire U.S.
The feelings are mutual, visitors to Saturday's air show could see. Grand Forks respects and honors the base, and the airmen and families there return the compliment.
It's a team that runs in sync, as smoothly as the rotors inside an F-16's Pratt & Whitney F100 turbofan engine. Here's hoping the partnership powers up our region for many years to come.
-- Tom Dennis for the Herald
