Regarding the Feb. 3 letter “Time to retire Tops In Blue”: Since the writer’s experience with Tops in Blue is being “voluntold” to attend a show, allow me to refute his suggestions. (I was in Tops In Blue in 1995.)
Tops in Blue is funded primarily by Non-Appropriated Funds (NAF), coming from patronage of places like the base exchange. Using the writer’s logic, base libraries, clubs, movie theaters and bowling alleys are not needed, since they are NAF-funded too. The writer refers to other concerts and sports teams. They are too expensive for many airmen or retirees; Tops in Blue is free. It is not only possible but typical that hundreds of thousands of people attend our shows per year at air shows, Air Force Weeks and NASCAR events, plus regular shows.
The Air Force needs Tops in Blue. Frequent deployments erode troop morale and stretch those back home to their limits. Where else can a dependent mom take her kids to see high-quality, multifaceted entertainment for free? And when Dad, who is deployed yet again, laughs with his kids about their favorite songs from that same show because he saw it too, the moment that family shares is why we exist.
Our motto is “Family Entertaining Family”; you might see rock stars or NFL cheerleaders in Kuwait or Kyrgyzstan but nowhere else will you see a show that has an airman first class you supervised at your last base or the staff sergeant who lives two doors down in base housing.
No calculator has a morale button, but it is worth the cost. Those who have never shaken the frail hand of a World War II veteran who uses a wheelchair or had grateful troops thanking them before they go back to their boring, stressful, bloody jobs in the war zone will never know what Tops in Blue truly means to those who need it most.
Master Sgt. Kellee A. RyanEglin Air Force Base, Fla.