Military Liaison & Coordination
One point of contact for every military asset at your event
One point of contact for every military asset at your event
Jet teams. Parachute teams. Color guards, mounted units and military bands. Getting any of them onto your event site runs through a process most producers meet exactly once.
Aerial Assets
Anything that flies, and anything that jumps.
Demonstration teams
Our reputation is built on knowing how these squadrons actually operate — the schedules, the ground requirements, the cultural expectations that don't appear on any form.
United States — U.S. Navy Blue Angels, USAF Thunderbirds, and all other ACC and PACAF demonstration teams
Canada — Canadian Forces Snowbirds
United Kingdom — Royal Air Force Red Arrows and Red Falcons
Japan — JASDF Blue Impulse and JMSDF White Arrows
Civilian — The Patriots and Breitling Jet Teams, plus single-ship demonstrations
Parachute Demonstration teams
Different timeline than a jet team, different weather minimums, and a set of ground requirements that surprises almost everyone the first time — a suitable drop zone, a medical plan, and an ambulance on site before the first jumper exits.
U.S. Army Golden Knights
USSOCOM Para-Commandos
The U.S. Navy Leap Frogs
Ceremonial and Ground Assets
Color guards and honor guards from every branch.
The USMC Mounted Color Guard. The 3d Marine Aircraft Wing Band. Troop formations, static displays and equipment exhibits.
From the outside, a color guard at a hotel ballroom and a jet team over an airfield look like the same request.
They aren't. Different form, different chain, different lead time — which is why events routinely secure one and lose the other.
How a military support request actually works
Two lanes. Almost every event that needs one needs both.
Aerial
DD Form 2535
Request for Military Aerial Support
Flyovers, static display aircraft, single-ship demonstrations, and aerial demonstration teams, including parachute teams
Note: military funeral honors are requested through a separate process, not DD Form 2535. If you're looking for a flyover at a memorial or graveside service, that's our memorial flyover program.
Ground and Ceremonial
DD Form 2536
Request for Armed Forces Participation in Public Events
Musical units, troops, color and honor guards, guest speakers, equipment exhibits
Does your event qualify? Military participation has to be at no additional cost to the government, and it can't interfere with operations or training. The Department of Defense won't support an event held to make a business profit. Charging admission doesn't disqualify you outright — but military participation can't be the primary attraction at a gated event. How you describe your event on the form matters more than most producers expect.
How early? Ninety days is the floor, and the floor is not where you want to be standing. The jet teams run on a two-year cycle — Blue Angels and Thunderbirds requests are due by July 1 of the year two years before your event. Single-ship demonstrations are one year out: July 1 of the year prior. Late or incomplete packages aren't held for review. They're returned.
The form is the easy part. The hard part is the eligibility language. The FAA coordination block that only the Flight Standards District Office with jurisdiction over your site can sign — and knowing when you don't need it at all. The recruiter space you're required to provide, and the ambulance that has to be standing by before anyone jumps out of an aircraft. Miss one and the package comes back. Usually with a deadline attached that has already passed.
What the event provides. This varies by asset, and it is where budgets get surprised. Security for aircraft on site for the entire stay. Ambulance and medical personnel during flight and parachute demonstrations. Communications. Fuel at military contract prices. Prime space for military recruiters, at no charge, where the foot traffic actually is. None of this makes military support expensive. It makes it slow, and it makes it conditional. Nearly every request that fails, fails on a technicality nobody told the producer about.
Requirements and submission deadlines change between form editions. Verified against DD Form 2535 (SEP 2025 edition) as of July 2026 — we confirm against the current edition on every request.
What We Do
We build the request package and get it right the first time. We chase the signatures the form requires and you can't provide yourself. We hold the timeline, and we tell you early when a date isn't going to work — because a clean no in March is worth more than a maybe in August.
Once a unit is approved, we coordinate it: arrival and departure, ground support, hospitality, media and appearance schedules.
One point of contact. On your side of the table.
Where We've Done It
At the Apple Valley Air Show, we liaise for the U.S. Army Golden Knights and the USMC Mounted Color Guard — one aerial lane, one ceremonial lane, running in parallel, for the same show.
At Mission Pacific Hotel in Oceanside, a Marine color guard from Camp Pendleton on the Fourth of July, at a resort with a beach, a crowd and no margin for a late arrival.
And numerous other events…
Common questions
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Military participation is provided at no additional cost to the government, which means the event sponsor covers obligations rather than paying the unit a fee — security, medical standby, communications, fuel at contract prices, recruiter space. Showboss Productions charges a coordination fee for our own work.
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2535 is aerial: flyovers, static display aircraft, single-ship demos, and aerial demonstration teams including parachute teams. 2536 is everything else the military brings on the ground: bands, troops, color and honor guards, speakers, equipment. Many events need both, and they move on separate tracks.
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Ninety days is the general floor, and the headline assets need far more. Blue Angels and Thunderbirds requests are due by July 1 of the year two years before the event. Air Force and Navy single-ship demonstrations are due July 1 of the year prior. Confirm against the current form edition before you build your timeline.
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Most parachute teams are requested on DD Form 2535, same as a jet team, but not all. Eligibility depends on the event and on the team's own schedule and training commitments, and approval is never guaranteed. Plan for the ground requirements early — drop zone, medical, ambulance on site. And if the season schedule has already been released, that isn't automatically a no — additional performances are considered at 60 days or more out when a team is available.
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Not automatically. But military participation can't be the primary attraction at a gated event, and the Department of Defense won't support an event held to turn a business profit. This is worth a conversation before you fill anything out.
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Yes — the Red Arrows and Red Falcons, Blue Impulse, the White Arrows, the Snowbirds, alongside U.S. teams and the civilian jet teams.
Let's find out what's possible
When it works, nobody in the crowd knows there was a process at all. They see the colors come forward, and they hear the jets.
That's the whole idea.
Military participation is approved by the Department of Defense, provided at no additional cost to the government, and is never guaranteed. Showboss Productions prepares the request, manages the timeline and coordinates the unit once approval is granted. Showboss Productions is a private company and is not endorsed by, affiliated with, or acting on behalf of the Department of Defense or any military service.