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CENTRAL JERSEY: Military shows off its power

By Lea Kahn, Packet Media Group
   While most families were pampering Mom with breakfast in bed Sunday morning, the Riesen-Malinowski clan was getting ready for the trek to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst to watch the military show off its air power and firepower.
   ”It was my idea (to attend the air show),” said Karen Rieser, a Barnegat Township resident. “We used to go to air shows when I was a child. It is something I always liked, and it’s a fun thing to do. It’s a nice way to spend Mother’s Day.”
   She attended the air show with her husband, Mark Malinowski, their toddler son, Nicholas Malinowski, and her father, Nicholas Rieser.
   Mr. Rieser, who lives in North Cape May, said he left his home at 5:15 a.m. to meet his daughter and her family at their home. Together, they traveled to the joint military base — along with about 120,000 other folks who attended the two-day open house and air show Saturday and Sunday.
   ”My daughter would kill me if I didn’t (go to the air show),” Mr. Rieser said with a smile. “I love air shows. It still gives me the chills. I always want to support (the military) because they support us. And, besides, it’s Mother’s Day all day long.”
   The air show got off to a jumpstart Sunday morning when a member of the Army’s Golden Knights parachute team slowly drifted through the air toward the ground, an American flag attached to his black-and-gold parachute. “The Star-Spangled Banner” played in the background.
   The crowd let out a cheer as the soldier touched ground.
   The show resumed with a fly-over of three cargo planes, followed quickly by a full demonstration of the Golden Knights parachute team. One of the team members illustrated — in mid-air — what happens when a parachute fails and how the parachutist compensates with a backup system.
   One of the more exciting demonstrations was put on by the Marines Air Ground Task Force.
   In the scenario, a group of Marines was dispatched to clean up enemy forces. A Marine Corps jetfighter flew past to check out the site, then Marines were flown onto the scene by three Marine Corps helicopters. The Marines jumped out of the helicopters and alternately ran and crawled toward their destination.
   The jetfighter flew past and dropped “bombs” on the enemy positions, which created loud explosions, a fireball and dense black smoke. The jet provided “close air support,” which is necessary to help the Marines on the ground to complete their mission, the announcer explained to the audience.
   One of the helicopters slowly lowered a Humvee onto the ground for the Marines’ use, then quickly left the scene. Additional helicopters swooped in and strafed the enemy positions with their machine guns until the Marines completed their mission.
   The aerial demonstrations resumed, including a fly-over by a B-1B supersonic jet bomber.
   The bomber’s jet engines created an enormous, thundering noise as it took flight, and the audience could observe the glow from the after-burner on its first pass. The bomber returned and flew swiftly past the audience, causing one young girl to plug her ears with her fingers.
   ”That, ladies and gentlemen, is the sound of freedom,” the announcer said as the B1-B bomber made its last pass with its engines at full blast.
   After a few more aerial demonstrations and acrobatics — including one by an F-18 Super Hornet jetfighter, which startled the crowd when it flew past them from the rear — it was time for the Air Force Thunderbirds performance team, which, for many visitors, was the main attraction.
   One by one, the Air Force pilots climbed into the cockpit of the Thunderbirds’ F-16 jet fighters and closed the canopy as the jet engines warmed up. The crowd clapped as the first of the six jetfighters rolled down the runway and into the sky.
   The Thunderbirds performed many maneuvers, crisscrossing each other. Two jets flew in a formation together, one right-side up and the other upside-down — but only a few feet apart. One man in the audience removed his cap and waved it at the fighter pilots each time they made a pass in front of the crowd.
   But there was more to the open house and air show — the first one since the Air Force, Army and Navy merged their bases into one in 2009 — than the in-flight demonstrations.
   An assortment of aircraft, ranging from World War II-era bombers, such as the B-17 and B-25 bombers, to cargo planes that dwarfed their human crewmembers, were on display. Children were able to sit down behind the controls — a dizzying array of small dials — in the cockpit of some of the planes.
   The Marine Corps had several pieces of equipment on the ground for visitors to explore, including a 7-ton semi-truck that can transport soldiers or cargo — topped by a 50-caliber machine gun. They also had a Humvee on display, likewise topped by a machine gun.