What a heart-pounding thrill and chilling realization that is. I remember standing for an airshow at Spirit of St. Louis one sunny summer afternoon and being very cognizant of how blessed I am that these war machines were coming in peace to my neighborhood.
I got the same feeling standing on the deck of the Battleship Missouri looking at those VERY BIG GUNS. I don't want to think about what we could do, if called upon to do so — on the other hand, it's a great comfort to know we can. ;-)
Shortly after 9-11 I attended a Texas A&M football game - there was a direct, low-level flyover by a BUFF (B-52) - it knocked our sox's off...
All I could thank of was the fact that I would hate to be under one of these big boys on a carpet-bombing run...