They call it Rushing the Blues because it's just like rushing a fraternity. You show up at an air show in your fighter and introduce yourself to all of the Blues. This includes everyone: the Pilots, the aircrew, the Flight Surgeon, and the Public Affairs Officer. You try to impress them with your gentlemanly qualities, and they try to figure out if they like you and would want to spend the next season with you.
You fly home and then return to another air show a couple of weeks later, whenever you can fit it into your schedule.
The Blues will invite you to attend a pre-air show brief; here you will have an opportunity to see what occurs prior to the show. Nobody except the Blue Angel Pilots is allowed into a post-air show brief.
You need to attend as many air shows as possible prior to July.
You have to be a carrier-qualed tactical jet guy. For timing purposes they like you to have only about a year into your shore-tour when you start your Blues Tour.
The flying they do is incredibly challenging. Your first year is tough as you try to keep up and not scrape paint. They always have close calls, but of course the public doesn't ever know about them. It takes an entire season to start to get comfortable and for the team to begin to jel. End of season airshows are much better than those at the beginning.
Once getting selected, some guys can't hack it. No big deal, it's understood that it is a difficult and fast paced evolution out in El Centro during Winter Training. A replacement is found soon as possible if needed.
Every guy has a rough time during his first year, no exceptions. But when they crawn out of their jets and meet the public, their smiling faces never give a hint know just how close they came to buying the farm.
So the answer to your question is, anyone can Rush the Blues after their first sea tour if they have 1250 hours tactical jet time (T-45 time counts). Must have the magic number by November, so in other words, the guys getting picked up this year needed 1250 by last month.
