CANNON AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. — Indulge me for a moment or two.

I’m such a sap.

I’ve traveled to 20-some countries around the world; I’ve visited 47 of the 50 states; I’ve shaken hands with some of the most interesting and famous people of our time; I’ve flown over the top of an erupting volcano; I’ve endured a tailhook landing and a catapult takeoff from an aircraft carrier.

My life has been an adventure.

Still, today I welled up as I saluted the six young pilots who taxied past us as they prepared to take off on a demonstration of aerial acrobatics the likes of which I’d never seen.

My wife, her brother and I went to see the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds today. The event took my breath away as we watched them do what they do with astonishing precision. Cannon AFB had its annual air show today, the highlight of which was the Thunderbirds exhibition.

For nearly an hour they flew past us, making incredibly steep climbs, rolling their aircraft as they zoomed past us at about 600 mph.

Up and down they flew — from every direction and occasionally at once.

I took a couple of thoughts away from this experience today … other than the obvious one about how proud I am of these young aviators and the amazing teams that work with them. As one with a smattering of aviation experience myself — owing to my service in the Army many decades ago — I appreciate and understand the work that the maintenance crews and the assorted ground-based staffers must do to make all this work.

How do these aviators practice to do what they do? I understand fully that these individuals don’t strap themselves into the cockpit of these F-16 Fighting Falcons without first training many thousands of hours. I’m still struck, though, by the idea of practicing for these close-order fly-bys.

How do these pilots maintain such laser focus?  On occasion I wonder about the psychological profile of those who are trained to fly high-performance aircraft. Just maintaining one’s focus in combat conditions would be daunting enough. These pilots all have combat experience, according to the public address announcer. Their focus must be intensified by some staggering multiplier in order to fly these birds with such precision — and so damn close to each other!

The flight line today was full of spectators just like us, marveling at what they saw.

Some hours later, after a 90-minute drive home from Clovis, N.M., my head is still spinning at what we just witnessed.

These young individuals should make us all proud.

Now I’m wondering … how can we get to watch the Navy’s Blue Angels? I understand they’re pretty good, too.