NAVAL AIR STATION NORTH ISLAND, Calif. (May 4, 2022): In this photo by MC2 Christina Ross, Vice Admiral Kenneth Whitesell, actor Tom Cruise, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro, and producer Jerry Bruckheimer meet on the red carpet for the advance premiere of Top Gun: Maverick on Naval Air Station North Island. Top Gun: Maverick features U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps pilots and was shot on multiple ships and facilities including Naval Air Station Whidbey Island and the aircraft carriers USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Theodore Roosevelt.
NAVAL AIR STATION NORTH ISLAND, Calif. (May 4, 2022): “Revvin' up your engine, listen to her howlin' roar… Metal under tension begging' you to touch and go… Highway to the Danger Zone,
Take a ride into the Danger Zone. These lyrics by singer Kenny Loggins are forever memorialized in the 1989 smash hit movie Top Gun starring Tom Cruise that proved to be a fabulous recruiting tool for the Navy.
Thirty-six years later, Top Gun: Maverick hit the screens to immense audiences around the world and will likely eclipse its impact on today’s Navy recruiting. Once again starring actor Tom Cruise, Top Gun: Maverick was filmed at the Navy’s Fighter Weapons School headquartered at Naval Air Station Fallon, Nevada.
Like the 1986 version, those are not actors flying the F-18 jets soaring over the desert landscape but active-duty aviators representing the “best of the best” of naval aviation. Unlike movie portrayals of cock fighter pilots bending the rules, today’s Top Gun pilots are the most disciplined professionals in the world.
The original Top Gun cost just $15 million to make compared to the $170 million price tag for the sequel. Incredibly, Top Gun: Maverick grossed a whopping $728 million at box offices around the world, the twelfth highest of all time.
The popularity of the original Top Gun saw recruitment rates soar by a massive 500%, so much so that Navy recruiters set up stations outside cinemas to catch hyped up moviegoers as they left the theater. While this figure has been debated in the years since, there is no doubt the film increased the awareness and prestige of the Navy among America’s youth.
As all branches of the military struggle to meet recruiting quotas, movies like Top Gun: Maverick create renewed enthusiasm for military service and greater respect for the honorable profession of arms.
Support Our Troops would like to recruit you to contribute to our Patriot’s Brigade® that funds Yellow Ribbon Care Packages for our troops deployed overseas. Last year, Support Our Troops delivered over $40 million of tangible support to America’s military servicemembers with 97 percent of every dollar spent on services. Now we are issuing a national call to all good Americans to show their love and support for our deployed troops this holiday season.
YOU can make a difference in the life of a deployed servicemember this Christmas. It’s simple!
- Just go to SupportOurTroops.Org and click on the Christmas 2022 Care Package icon.
- You will find a list of things the troops are requesting
- Carefully read the packages rules that are posted there
- Send to:Support Our Troops®
Regional Distribution Center
249-J Third St.
Ayden, NC 28513
All Together Now!®
If you would like to provide items for future care boxes or donate to help pay to ship the goods, you can find everything you need to know posted on SupportOurTroops.Org.
~~ The SOT Team