I'm assuming they fly those plans routinely and just diverted for the day
Thats not really the whole of the argument here. You could literally dump the cash int he nurses lap and it would be more of a thank you to them than some plans flying over head.
That it is a shitty way to say thank you and not one that any one they were thanking either appreciated or wanted. From what I hear most of them would have rather them done nothing than to create a shit ton of pollution and waste a bunch of money for no reason.
Considering the purpose of the flight was explicitly for them, the fact that you and others dont care what they want is exactly the problem.
Because if your trying to give a gift to a person or group of people, and admit you dont care about those people or what they think of the gift, your going to do a pretty shitty job at gift giving.
These are Blue Angels, they fly almost exclusively for display and nothing else. I doubt they would have flew that particular day without a show/display scheduled. Though im sure another show or display wouldnt have been far off.