WATCHING "TOP GUN" FOR MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

I spent the part of Friday night I'll gladly tell co-workers about later at the Nationals game, but that was over before midnight, and I spent the sordid hours that followed drinking PBR and watching "Top Gun" with my roommate.

He pointed out all the clichés mocked in "Team America" and I pointed out that those clich´s were born with this film -- at least we could agree that Parker & Stone's epic satire could not have existed without "Top Gun." It had been years since he had seen it, but "Top Gun" was a childhood favorite.

Who could forget heroes Maverick and Goose, villains Iceman and Slider, or instructors Jester and Viper? Who could forget Goose's tragic death when an aerial accident led to eight seasons on "E.R.", or Slider's tragic relegation to the background when Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer stopped fighting?

Well, not me. But as I studied the end credits, I realized I'd never given much thought to the actual Navy fighter pilots with actual nicknames who provided actual expertise about how to flip the bird to MiGs piloted by unidentified villainous Communist-aligned nations in the "Indian Ocean, Present Day."

Thank you, IMDb, for helping me give them their due:

technical advisor
Peter 'Viper' Pettigrew

navy dialogue consultant
Jim 'Flex' Destafney

navy aerial coordinator
Lcdr. Robert 'Rat' Willard

F-14 aerial coordinator
Lcdr. Lloyd 'Bozo' Abel

F-14 aircrew
Lt. Scott 'D-Bear' Altman
Lt. Dennis 'Loner' Broska
Lt. Chuck 'Silver' Lewis
Lt. Rick 'Curly' Moe
Lt. Ben 'Rabbi' Schneider
Lt. Tracy 'Too Cool' Skeels
Lt. JG Kenneth 'Squire' Smith

top gun instructor and mig pilot
Lt. Dave 'Bio' Baranek
Lt. Michael 'Vida' Blue
Lt. Peter 'Horse' Caulk
Maj. John 'Player' Cushing
Capt. Dennis 'Sunshine' Dilucente
Lt. Gregory 'Hollywood' Dishart
Lt. Michael 'Flex' Galpin
Lt. Ricky 'Organ' Hammonds
Capt. Terrence 'Circus' McGuire
Lt. James 'Jambo' Ray
Maj. Ray 'Secks' Seckinger
Lcdr. Thomas 'Sobs' Sobieck
Lt. William 'Tex' Spence
Capt. Michael 'Boa' Straight
Lt. James 'Jaws' Winnefeld

There. Now, if that isn't a fitting blog post for Memorial Day, I don't know what is.

Labels: IMDb, Memorial Day, Top Gun

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posted by WWB at 2:49 PM |