This morning, Narragansett Bay is going to reverberate with the mighty roar of the General Electric F-404 turbojet. (Union-built in Lynn, MA....probably by my brother!)

Tomorrow, I'll be making the trek myself and doing one of my favorite things...sitting on a hot airfield, having my ears assaulted, and sniffing jet fumes.

Ah, but there's the rub. I grew up not too far from Logan Airport (Boston) and now I live and work not too far from Hanscom Field. I was always looking at the sky, and aviation and things with wings have been a lifelong interest of mine.

But then came September 11 (sheesh, maybe it did change everything?) and with it some changing attitudes and politics for me. Not that many years ago, I watched the invasion of Kuwait with rapt attention and pride; I celebrated the glories of war and the superiority of our technology with a lot of folks in those days. (We're talking 1991, people.)

But especially since 2003, and even more so writing "Ask a Vet" every week....I wonder about some of the things that I love so much. I am looking forward to seeing an F-22 Raptor in the sky for the first time tomorrow, but the intellectual part of me questions the need and the cost.

I haven't seen the Blue Angels since 1998, but now I wonder about the kids that are going to be watching and thinking they're the coolest thing, and all the recruiters that are going to be swarming the airbase this weekend 'just to talk'.

Curiously, I don't have that ambivalence towards the Canadian Air Force "Snowbirds". They fly 1950s vintage trainer jets, and their show is what a flight display should be about; it's artistry in the sky. (The US display teams do it with brute force and noise...how American, hmm?)

It's not a "warbird" show this weekend, but I do know that a few C-47s and a handful of Mustangs are showing up. There is truly no finer sound in all of aviation than a Merlin engine in full swing. (And in a side note, that's how you can tell car people and plane people apart....just do the word-association thing and say "Mustang".) Alas, no B-17 this trip. But they will be around in September.

In any case....it's been 8 years since I last stood on an airfield immersed in aviation and the US military. The intellectual part of me questions the need, and wonders about the recruiting trap that's been set this weekend. Of course, the little kid and the av-dork parts of me are going to be in fine fettle.