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The Armed Forces Need Another Top Gun

By Richard D. Parker, Ph.D.
December 2005
Proceedings
Nobody Asked Me, But . . .
View Issue
Comments

One of the biggest money-making films of all time was also one of the best recruiting tools the military has ever had for swelling the ranks of those in uniform.

Top Gun was the highest grossing movie of 1986. Box office revenues topped more than $176 million but, more important, the film showed that it was cool to be in the military. Commander Marion R. Edwards, the late father of one of my oldest friends and a naval flight officer for 23 years, was quick to point out the functional flaws of the film. Buzzing the control tower, for instance, would cost you your wings, yet Maverick (Tom Cruise) does it twice with no repercussions.

Despite Commander Edwards' warnings that life as a naval aviator would not be what Hollywood made it out to be, it did not stop me, and thousands of others, from pursuing a career in the Navy. A combination of poor eyesight and arthritis eventually kept me from joining, but the seed had been planted.

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