Talk:The U.S. Air Force (song)

Added "Changes in lyrics to rhyme with 'Force'"
I went through Air Force ROTC in the 1970s, and distinctly remember that these were the official lyrics in effect at the time. I also distinctly remember how embarrassed I was to sing them during AFROTC Field Training (summer camp).

PhantomWSO (talk) 17:26, 21 March 2010 (UTC)

U.S. Air Force Blue
This section has no bearing to the article itself, other than both are (now) about the Air Force. I propose a split into separate articles.--Reedmalloy (talk) 16:22, 10 September 2010 (UTC)
 * Even though this is an old proposal Oppose for the record. There was a definite attitude during the 1950s and 1960s that all this "down in flames" stuff was unprofessional, and U.S. Air Force Blue was at least semi-officially the Air Force song for a while.  No idea how to find a reliable source for this, but we used to joke about it when I was in ROTC.  --Lineagegeek (talk) 22:06, 19 May 2014 (UTC)

Gender neutral lyrics
It's right that the lyrics should be updated with recent changes, but the older lyrics ought to also be preserved in an appropriate section explaining the change. --68.48.249.140 (talk) 11:13, 28 February 2020 (UTC)


 * The last two versions of the article that I have seen are both deficient. The lyrics section had shown only the new lyrics, which erased the long history of the original version of the song.  And now the current edit is a revert, which fails to show that any change has been made.


 * The proper way to present the lyrics is to show both versions, pre- and post-change. This is an encyclopedia.  And it needs to communicate both the current status as well as the history.  And the change info should not be buried in the text of the article which imposes upon the reader to reconstruct either version.


 * I am sure that there are examples of similar changes handled across Wikipedia which can be used to serve as a guide for this article. -- Tdadamemd19 (talk) 14:57, 5 March 2020 (UTC)


 * It looks like there is the side by side in the third verse section. Garuda28 (talk) 19:37, 5 March 2020 (UTC)

Other issues with the 2020 lyrics changes
Only the 3rd verse was changed. All other verses remain steeped in sexism.

Then there is the reason why the 3rd verse was changed. This has been attributed to Brie Larson. The spike in female applicants to the Air Force Academy has been referred to as the "Captain Marvel Effect". There have been women in the Air Force since the beginning. There have been female pilots in the USAF since the 1970s. And there have been AF women flying fighters since 1993. This switch to non-sexist lyrics for the 3rd verse happened exactly one year after the release of Brie Larson's movie.

Even after the changes announced one week ago, the song as a whole is still quite sexist, with the most egregious line being "At 'em boys, give her the gun." You'd think with all the attention that rape and sexual harassment has gotten, that line would have been the FIRST thing they would have changed in the song. Here is the Air Force Times article which discusses these other issues: https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/02/27/air-force-has-updated-its-song-be-gender-neutral.html

So it can be guessed that the current form of the lyrics are in the middle of a transition toward a song which is fully gender neutral. That article explains that the Chief of Staff "Goldfein said it is an important discussion that is ongoing". Kind of like how the Air Force went through a period of DADT before completing that policy change. -- Tdadamemd19 (talk) 14:47, 5 March 2020 (UTC)

Reflects the policy of using female airmen in combat roles. ‘Sexism’ is a loaded, POV term, and does not belong in the article. Or criticism of the policy, that should go in an article discussing that. 2A00:23C7:E287:1900:2DD6:E0E4:1223:B420 (talk) 18:51, 26 September 2021 (UTC)

One terrible roar / One helluva roar
In 1989 the Airmans Technical Order issued by Air Training Command printed this song with "terrible roar" in its lyrics. All of us were instructed to make a pen & ink change to change it to "hell of a roar" and we were told to sing it that way. Was there a period where the song was officially printed with the mild lyrics out of political correctness? -Rolypolyman (talk) 18:15, 16 October 2020 (UTC)

Public domain or not?
There appears to be some confusion over whether or not the song is in the public domain. The citation in this article to https://web.archive.org/web/20100822010136/http://www.usafband.af.mil/education/arrangements/airforceblue/index.asp says "yes", but over at https://www.music.af.mil/Multimedia/AF-Recordings/Air-Force-Song/ the Air Force says "no" and that one should go to https://www.carlfischer.com/ to get a license. What's going on here? -- Frotz(talk) 06:10, 15 September 2023 (UTC)

Men in Air Force Blue
I have not found anything that backs the assertion in that section. Has anyone else found anything?Afheather (talk) 04:10, 3 December 2023 (UTC)