Achieving excellence

As many people do, I have most of the content steaming services and enjoy a wide selection of choice when it comes to what I'm able to watch...but there's so much rubbish it can be difficult to find the few gems I'll eventually watch. I watch a lot of documentaries, mainly nature related, although add in different things based on my curiosity, interests or desire to learn more in general. As a history addict I watch many documentaries on various historical things and military documentaries feature prominently along with engineering, automotive and car racing stuff.

On Sunday, I was perusing Netflix and came across something that leapt out at me immediately, jet fighters, and more specifically the U.S. Navy Blue Angels - the elite (and legit) jet fighter demonstration team. Yep, I was on it!

I expected to see some cool vision of the jets flying and performing maneuvers (which I did) and it was also cool to get some behind-the-scenes understanding of how they operate, how many people it takes to get those six pilots and their jets to a show and into the air (141 if you're wondering) and what each does, the training process, the attention to detail and the selection process all of which (and more) is covered in the documentary.

I'm not going to do a review of it, you can watch it for yourself (or not) but will say that I related to the ownership and discipline each member of the Blue Angels (all 141 of them) display and, of course, the dedication to excellence. The ethos isn't about perfection, they know that does not exist, instead they focus on doing the small things well and they know in doing so they have a chance of achieving excellence; flying jet fighters eighteen inches apart whilst performing maneuvers at between 120 and 700mph requires excellence.

The Blue Angels began in 1946 when Admiral Chester Nimitz decided it would be advantageous to bring Naval Aviation to the people of America...and the people came in droves to see them perform - some 11 million spectators each year.

It's much more than that now though, as you'll see if you watch the show, and many years later are steeped in history and have gained a reputation of excellence on the ground and in the air; an example for all I believe. Every member of the Blue Angels carries a legacy of those who came before them, the Blue Angels and those who conducted naval aviation combat missions in World War Two only eleven years prior to their formation, and each also remembers the twenty eight Blue Angel pilots who have died whilst in the air - A family is what they call themselves, and I'd say that's a perfect description.

That's the most recent thing I've watched on Netflix, how about you? I'm not interested in hearing about movies as most are rubbish, but have you seen a good documentary lately? Feel free to share it if you have and if you have seen the Blue Angels in action please comment about it...and drop photos if you have any.

Speaking of photos, all were taken by me on my phone from the Netflix show.