On August 14, 2010, actor Vince Vaughn jumped from an airplane at an altitude of 12,500 feet above Chicago for that city’s 52nd annual Air and Water Show. And while a jump for such a famous event would be memorable in and of itself, it was made even better by the fact that Vaughn did it with one of the U.S. Army’s elite parachute teams.
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During the footage before and after the jump, Vaughn didn’t talk about his politics, didn’t offer a clue as to who he is or isn’t voting for this November, and gave no indication as to his opinion of government bailouts. Rather, he made sure he praised the soldiers who fight to keep this nation free. And talking about putting your money where your mouth is: Vaughn not only spoke highly of the troops, he actually did a tandem jump with an Army Specialist which entailed nothing less than putting his life in that soldier’s hands.
Just before Vaughn boarded the plane that would take him to his jump, he was asked for his thoughts and calmly said “I feel like we’re in great hands.” Thereafter, the plane took off, Vaughn did his tandem jump, and after he had parachuted to the ground a reporter approached him and said: “You just jumped out of an airplane with the United States Army parachute team The Golden Knights.” Vaughn looked at the reporter and said: “And it was the best. It was incredible.”
Vaughn then looked around at the other soldiers who had jumped with him and those in uniform already on the ground and said: “The Army’s the best…We had a blast. It was incredible, so thank you.”
The YouTube video of Vaughn’s jump ends with him looking into the camera and saying: “Hi. I’m Vince Vaughn, and now I know what ‘Army Strong’ is all about.”
Long before Vaughn talked about feeling Army Strong, he was standing up for this nation where many of Hollywood’s most notable fail to stand. For instance, on the cusp of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, he was in England, where he had to put up with Brits who loathed the United States. He said that when they would badmouth the U.S., his favorite comeback to them was: “[Why don’t you] think about the Marshall Plan a bit and get back to me?” In other words, instead of quietly listening as others insulted America, Vaughn reminded them of the post-WWII economic/infrastructure plan we put in place where we funded the reconstruction of Europe.
I applauded Vaughn for his common sense approach to demonstrating his love for this country’s name and this country’s honor. I also applaud him for standing up for our troops. And I wonder why voices like his are in the minority in Hollywood? Hopefully others will follow Vaughn’s lead and take time to shake a soldier’s hand or stand up for this country when an uppity European socialist insults it.
We’re not asking actors and actresses to tell us who they plan to vote for (or who they think we should vote for). Rather, we’re just asking them to love this country the way we do: the way Vaughn does.
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