This past weekend, tens of thousands of people flocked to Brunswick, Maine, to watch a spectacle in the sky over the small coastal city. The U.S. Navy Blue Angels flight team, a traveling performance troupe of stunt pilots and other aeronautical entertainers, performed in what has been advertised as the last ever Great State of Maine Air Show at Brunswick Naval Air Station. The base, which is scheduled to close in 2011, has hosted the show semi-annually since 1962.

In addition to the crowds of spectators, the air show also drew several dozen protestors, organized by 16 separate peace organizations from throughout New England. The action puzzled many attendees and others, who didn’t understand what anyone could possibly have against an event that has provided entertainment and family fun to more than a million people over the years. But protestors are quick to point out that the Blue Angels flight team is a major recruiting effort of the U.S. Navy, and the fact that the air show is touted as merely entertainment and family fun is a big part of their problem with it.

In a recent column for the Portland Press Herald, Jack Bussell, head of Maine Veterans for Peace, called the Great State of Maine Air Show “a glorification of war spectacular featuring the Blue Angels and their F-18s; static displays of weapons for the whole family to fondle; military recruiters telling your sons and daughters how they can earn money for college, see the world, meet interesting people. It's a ‘G-rated’ show with ‘X-rated’ content, for there is no glory in war.”

To Bruce Gagnon, a member of Maine’s Veterans for Peace and coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, two of the organizations that sponsored the protest, the idea of featuring bomber jets in a family show is morbidly ironic.

“The Blue Angels F-18 Hornet jets are attack aircraft that drop bombs, fire missiles and cannons and in the real world are used in places like Iraq to kill people,” he said.

Maine is a rural state, and while, numerically, the largest number of new military recruits come from cites, a larger proportion of rural youth enlist. That means young people from states like Maine are statistically more likely to join the military than those from states with large urban centers. In fact, in 2004, Maine had more Army recruits per 1,000 young people than any other state in the country, according to data published by the National Priorities Project, an organization that analyzes federal data “so that people can understand and influence how their tax dollars are spent.” By 2005, the most recent year for which data is available, Maine had dropped to number seven, still a high ranking, considering it is the 11th smallest state, in terms of population.

Whether Maine has such high enlistment rates because of a lack of economic opportunities, a more focused recruiting effort on the part of the military, or some other variable is unclear. What is clear is that peace activists here find the trend disturbing. The protest at the Great State of Maine Air Show is just one facet of efforts across the state to deter young would-be recruits from joining the military. Other efforts include Peace Action Maine’s youth group, which encourages young peace activists to go to a recruiting office and experience the process, so they’re better prepared to talk with their peers about reasons not to join. Another anti-military group has been seeking access equal to that of military recruiters in local schools to talk to students about the realities of military life and to offer alternatives.

Beyond the fact that the air show normalizes warfare and is used as an outreach tool to lure young people into the military, protestors said the very existence of the Blue Angels flight team serves to feed the military industrial complex, using tax dollars they believe could be better spent.

“As we face social spending cuts in our state and nation, imagine what we could do with the $57 million that each F-18 Hornet costs to build,” said Gagnon

“Imagine the home heating oil help, home weatherization, or even health care assistance we could provide in our communities with those funds. Over 50 percent of every tax dollar now goes to fight endless war. Maine’s share of the Iraq quagmire has already cost taxpayers in our state $1.5 billion.”

In addition, Gagnon pointed out that each plane in the Blue Angels air show consumes valuable nonrenewable fuel resources and hurts the environment.

“At a time of diminishing supplies of fossil fuels, and dramatically rising cost of gasoline, the Blue Angels team burns over 8,000 gallons of fuel in one day and significantly contributes to greenhouse gases. On the one hand our government encourages us to conserve fuel, and then flies these warplanes that waste an inordinate amount of fuel over our heads.”