It took a lot of encouragement to get to the point of boarding the FA-18 Hornet Wednesday afternoon. A pre-flight briefing taught me how to breathe and properly tighten my body to prevent illness or a blackout when some maneuvers took us to as much as seven times the force of gravity.

Lt. Frank Weisser, the narrator for the Blue Angels show and a pilot, took me on some high G maneuvers where I topped out at 7.3 Gs and I felt every one of them. We did a lot of flying upside down and went from 120 miles per hour to 800 miles per hour in just a matter of 25 or 30 seconds.

"This is probably my 1000th flight, but it always feels like the first because it's your first time," said Weisser. "You never lose the love of what you're doing because you are back there screaming."

Those watching on the ground took bets on how long it would take me to get sick and pass out. And I'm proud to say it never happened, but I did get pretty confused for a few seconds.

"I think I lost you during the mid-radius turn when we pulled about 7.3 Gs," said Weisser.

I left the event as proud as I have ever been of myself. And so very impressed with the pilots who do this now, but have spent years serving our country and will return to duty when their stint with the Blue Angels is complete.