USA — Air Show Highlights Jointness

JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. , May 15, 2010 — Joint oper­a­tions were under­scored here this week­end as thou­sands of civil­ians gath­ered at the 2010 Joint Ser­vice Open House to get a clos­er look at the military’s best air­craft and vehi­cles and the ser­vice­mem­bers who oper­ate and main­tain them.

Lt. Gen. Philip Breedlove, deputy chief of staff for Air Force oper­a­tions, plans and require­ments, was the guest speak­er for the open­ing cer­e­mo­ny this morn­ing. “Hope­ful­ly, I am here today wel­com­ing future sol­diers, sailors, air­men, Marines and Coast Guards­men who will be inspired by what they see out here,” he said. 

The open house theme of “Unit­ed in Strength” was fit­ting, Breedlove said. “Look around you this morn­ing,” he said. “We’re host­ed by an Air Force wing with Navy F‑18s in the back­ground and we watched the 82nd Air­borne jump out of a Marine KC-130. No one ser­vice can do what we require of our mil­i­tary alone, and each must con­tribute to today’s fight.” 

Col. Steven She­p­ro, com­man­der of the 316th Wing which host­ed the event, not­ed that it is the Defense Department’s largest Joint Ser­vice Open House, and was dis­tin­guished this year by the 100th anniver­sary of mil­i­tary aviation. 

The annu­al open house pro­vides the pub­lic an oppor­tu­ni­ty to meet and inter­act with the men and women of the armed forces. Active duty, reserve, vet­er­ans and civil­ian employ­ees come togeth­er to make the three-day air show a success. 

“It’s def­i­nite­ly some­thing I’m proud to do,” said Marine Corps Maj. David Per­sons, who came from Marine Corps Base Quan­ti­co, Va., with a CH-53E Sea Stal­lion. “It’s a rare oppor­tu­ni­ty to broad­en your per­spec­tive on our avi­a­tion abil­i­ty across the ser­vices and it lets the pub­lic know what we do. Just to see the smile on the children’s faces makes it worth com­ing here.” 

High­lights of the air show includ­ed per­for­mances from the U.S. Navy Blue Angels and the U.S. Army Gold­en Knights. Sta­t­ic dis­plays from every ser­vice, includ­ing the Navy’s MH-53 Sea Drag­on, the Marine Corps AH-IW Super Cobra and the Air Force F‑15, as well as vin­tage war planes, cov­ered the flight­line for tours and pho­to opportunities. 

Source:
U.S. Depart­ment of Defense
Office of the Assis­tant Sec­re­tary of Defense (Pub­lic Affairs)