The beautiful new US Air Force Memorial (designed after the trails left by the famous Thunderbird bomb-burst formation) was dedicated in Arlington, Virginia on October 14, 2006 on the three-acre promontory adjacent to Arlington National Cemetery and a short walk from the Pentagon.
The Memorial is on the grounds of the Navy Annex.
The USAF has always tried to show a very modern and futuristic view to all their designs - such as the USAF Air Force Academy in Colorado and even in their uniform insignias - almost as if they've never got over being upset that science fiction has always depicted the military ranks of the future as naval ranks, and the space war machinery of the future as "ships" and space "sailing" machines and not flying machines.
After all, it's Captain Kirk, not Colonel Kirk, and Admiral Adama (in Battlestar Galactica), not General Adama.
A well-deserved salute to the men and women in blue who have served over the years and who continue to serve, they should be very proud of their very beautiful memorial, and we should be very grateful for their service.
But - I could have predicted this - as evidenced by the Washington Post's architecture critic Philip Kennicott's article on the subject, I am sure that all the usual left wing nuts will find something to dislike about the new memorial, or introduce a personal political agenda into the issue, while all the usual right wing nuts will also find something to dislike in its postmodern look and somewhat abstract design and lack of militaristic "view."
Whenever one designs and builds a public memorial, you can't please everyone, but whenever it is something to do with a military service, you can bet that all the wackjobs from the left and from the right will come out and become negative from some perspective or another, fueled by their extremist and divisive agendas.
I say that as long as it pleases the people and the families of those whom the memorial is supposed to "honor" - even if it is a just spot to take one's picture - then that's good enough for me.
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