I live pretty close to the Vermont National Guard; I hear planes take off all the time. The other day it had just gotten dark, and driving past the airport I heard a jet, so naturally I looked, and for the first time saw the beautiful and perfectly conical afterburner flaming out the back of a silhouetted plane - totally amazing.

At the state fair there are always reps from the National Guard; this year they were set up with military jet and an elevated walkway, so you could see inside, etc. I was amazed at how small they actually are - simply a cockpit, engine, and a wing-shaped fuel tank.

I told myself I didn't want to end up engineering killing machines for war, but those planes are SO cool that maybe I could justify working on turbine engines...