SAN DIEGO, Calif - There are those things about the Miramar Air Show that are iconic, like the Patriots Jet Team with their signature red, white and blue smoke.  The team is made up of retired military pilots that still love the thrill of flying.  Or there's the Red Bull helicopter that did gravity defying, if not death defying stunts.

But out on the tarmac, you might have thought you were at the state fair.  For instance, there was a dunk tank with an apparently very loose setting.  10News cameras caught one poor Marine getting dunked time after time.  And not far from that, 10News cameras spotted 2 little girls jousting in a makeshift bouncy house.  They were using padded jousting sticks, of course.

"We get a lot of people that are interested in being a police officer," said LAPD helicopter pilot Chris Mezich.  That's right.  The Miramar Air Show proved to also be a really good recruiting opportunity and not just for the military.  Mezich flew an LAPD chopper down to Miramar to help lure in potential police officers.  "You'll get hundreds of thousands of people that come here.  A lot of military personnel who are interested in becoming a police officer after their tour is done here," Mezich said.

Not far from LA's finest, we saw Sgt. Anthony Krystoff doing his best to interest people in the Air Force Reserve.  "Our goal here is just to plant the seed, let people know who we are.  If they have specific questions, we can answer those, but we just see a huge number of people here," Krystoff said.

Now, if explosive ordnance disposal was your thing.... no you can't dismantle a bomb... but you could see what the protective suit felt like.  Alexus Nisperos got a new found appreciation for what the guys who do the job professionally go through.  "I just wanted to feel like what it really felt like in real life," Nisperos said.  "And what did it feel like?" asked 10News reporter John Carroll.  "Very heavy, I think it's probably heavier than me!" Nisperos said.

Attendance figures aren't yet in but one thing is for sure.  Planning for the 2013 Miramar Air Show starts on Monday morning.