Today’s pilots have grown up in a community “where we were always welcomed and had wonderful homecomings from our deployments. I know that wasn’t always the case,”\u00a0Schager told\u00a0Navy Times. “Here is an opportunity where we have hundreds of thousands of people to come out to recognize and to thank these Vietnam veterans for their service, for their valor, and their sacrifice.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Event planners welcomed many local veteran groups and the 50th Commemoration Committee from Washington, D.C. But\u00a0Schager\u00a0wanted the recognition of these vets to go beyond the formalities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I have personally talked to the thousands of volunteers and security forces to make sure we reach out,” he said. The captain’s orders were simple: “If you recognize there is a Vietnam veteran walking up next to you, just stop them and say ‘hello’ and ‘thank you.'”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fun didn’t stop when the flightline grew silent. The air show hosts an annual Beach Blast that features a free concert with the U.S. Fleet Forces Four Star Edition rock band along the ocean front. Attendees can expect an F\/A-18 Super Hornet after-burner flyover, night parachute jumps, and an opportunity to meet the Blue Angels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Oceana Air Show had a record crowd of 314,000 last year, and are prepared for that many this year, Schager said. The air show wraps up Sunday; organizers will start planning for next year’s show on Monday, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The F\/A-18\u2019s booming engines could do little to best the crowd\u2019s thunderous roar as the famed Blue Angels brought the first day of flight demonstrations to a fitting end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":65,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[12,65],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1012],"class_list":["post-36715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-your-navy"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"XZ7ZN35YRBAVDGX43BEHSZ5OSA","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-navy\/2015\/09\/19\/blue-angels-wow-thousands-at-nas-oceana-air-show\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/default-navytimes.jpg.jpg\")
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