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Shaw Airman selected for Tops in Blue

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Holly MacDonald
  • 20th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C --  Tops in Blue auditions last for 10 days at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. Participants perform at least once a day, knowing only 24 will be chosen to become part of the team. One of those chosen few is an Airman from Shaw.

Nov. 19 was a busy day for Senior Airman Jonathan Hayden, 609th Air Communications Squadron. It was his birthday, his promotion test day and the day he was notified of his acceptance as a male vocalist to this year's Tops in Blue team.

"It was amazing because it was the day after I got back from the worldwide talent competition," Airman Hayden said. "I got a call from my commander, who was in the desert at the time. He told me 'Happy birthday, I hope you did well on your testing and I have one more piece of information for you, you made Tops in Blue.' I didn't really believe it until I read it on the official list."

Twenty-four members were chosen for the Tops in Blue team out of the 65 who performed at the Lackland competition.

"I still kept in touch with people I competed with and some didn't find out until the day of the deadline. Now I'm trying to piece together who made it and who I'll be on a team with for the next year," he said.

Airman Hayden was inspired to audition for Tops in Blue by an experience at Shaw. Last year's tour began at Shaw and Airman Hayden volunteered to help backstage. One of the directors picked up on his energy backstage and saw how motivated Airman Hayden was. The director encouraged Airman Hayden to send a video for the 2007 audition, Airman Hayden said.

"When I was in high school I did musicals and in California while I was in technical school I did a couple musicals too," he said. "It has always been a passion for me, just being on stage and performing."

Airman Hayden recorded his audition video at the community center and sent it off just in time to meet the Oct. 5 deadline.

"I can't wait to see every one from the competition again in January to start our journey," Airman Hayden said. Airman Hayden said he is looking forward to traveling the world and especially performing at deployed locations.

"It is an amazing thing whenever you can show people how much you care by performing for them or even just being there, showing your support and hopefully boosting their morale and spirits," Airman Hayden said.

Lt. Gen. Gary North, 9th Air Force and U.S. Central Command Air Forces commander, sent a congratulatory note to Airman Hayden.

"Congratulations on Tops in Blue. You can stand proud of not only being selected for your talents, but also because they select only the sharpest Airmen, and know you will be superb...it's an assignment where you will be able to see and do more in the show year than you ever dreamed," wrote Gen. North.