BOULDER — Friday, 10 May 2002, 1650 hours. The B-1 bomber, en route from Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, bore southeast from Longmont with clearance to descend to 1,000 feet above the ground.
It kicked on all four afterburners. It had penetrated the airspace of the People’s Republic of Boulder.
In reality, the bomber was part of the Air Force ROTC graduation festivities at the University of Colorado.
In the strange world which is Boulder, you’d think the jet had dropped napalm over the community.
It was so loud! It was unexpected! My children have been traumatized for weeks! They should have told everyone ahead of time it was going to happen! I’m sure it was only 100 feet off the ground, not 1,000!
Perhaps some of it’s Post-9-11 Jitters. Perhaps some of it’s the … well, let’s avoid stereotypes (heh) and just say unique Boulder culture, in which things Military are immediately suspect, and where anything that disturbs the tranquility (without filing eleventy-dozen forms with the City Council, in quadruplicate) is insensitive to the point of trauma.
Or maybe it’s just a slow Letter to the Editor week up there.
Yeah I saw it fly by on my way to my car after work.
I used to be a real military aircraft junky so my first thought was “COOL!”, but then I kind of went to “Er… I hope it’s cool…”
I think that’s a reasonable reaction in times when phrases like “Homeland Security” are heard every single day, but mostly people in Boulder are probably upset that “I WASN’T TOLD!!!”
Typical, self-centered Boulder, really.
I can see being startled. I can see even, for a few moments, wondering what’s going on (since bombers flying overhead aren’t common).
I would hope that after a few moments people would realize (a) it’s pretty darned unlikely that al Qa’eda has hijacked a B-1, and (b) it’s pretty darned unlikely that a B-1 is being flown over Boulder in response to anything terrorists are likely to have done nearby.
Hope is a nice thing to have.
Add to that the fact that is was CU’s graduation day…
I managed to put one and two together, fer cryin’ out loud.