Recruiters were taking the names and phone numbers of climbers, Woolsey said,
and will call to see whether they're interested in enlisting.
This is the third year that Staff Sgt. Allen Murphy, 31, has pulled duty at the
Air & Sea Show, and the veteran said he detected a distinct change in visitors'
attitudes toward the military this year.
"It's been more positive," Murphy said. "People paying us compliments, wanting
to take their pictures with us. We've been getting noticed."
Saturday's crowds, which gathered in sweltering sunshine along a four-mile
stretch of oceanfront, clapped and cheered especially loudly for the hardware
that has been used during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, including
the B-52 bomber, the F/A-18 Hornet fighter/attack aircraft and the F-14 Tomcat
fighter. Streaking by at an ear-splitting 500 mph, six Blue Angels in their
F-18s dedicated one maneuver to all American forces deployed to track down those
responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
"In my 10 years with the Navy, I've always felt we had a strong relationship
with the community, but since Sept. 11, it's grown stronger," said Lt. Chris
Loundermon, a Navy spokesman.
"We were attacked in our own backyard and have been fighting for our very
freedom."
Split-second coordination is required at the event, which also features civilian
stunt fliers and vintage aircraft, including a PBY flying boat, B-25 bomber and
F-86F Sabre fighter. Military aircraft converge on Fort Lauderdale from numerous
bases, with the B-2 flying from its home field at Whiteman Air Force Base in
Missouri.
"The pilots have to be within six seconds of the schedule," Fitzgerald said.
Some participants sounded as enthusiastic as the crowd.
Two miles above the crowd, Staff Sgt. Calvin Fredlake, a member of the Army's
Golden Knights parachute team, jumped out of an aircraft and rocketed earthward
at up to 170 mph. Trailing an American flag, the 31-year-old from Guttenberg,
Iowa, landed precisely on a small X placed on the sand. Fred- lake said he had
felt that millions of eyes were upon him.
"It's so great to jump by the ocean with a crowd that you can see forever, up
and down the beach," he said. "I feel like a movie star right now--that's what's
going through my mind."
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