Buzz Patterson

Set a reminder for my upcoming Space! twitter.com/i/spaces/1pKdR…

@StevenJBurns It’s boldface. We didn’t have a choice.

@BuzzPatterson cloud hopping takes priority over training

Cloud attack! Reminds me of Air Force pilot training!

I remember walking into the White House on my first day to be President Clinton’s Air Force Military Aide. I was a young major. It was a beautiful spring day. Birds chirping and I was a little overwhelmed. I was expecting the finest organization I’d ever worked for. The most important building in the world, right? For the most important person in the world. About two weeks later, I’d concluded it was the worst. The typical flying squadron had their shit together way more than the Clinton administration. It was disappointing. In fact, I spent much of my time trying to counsel young staffers so that a) President Clinton didn’t get hurt, and 2) Clinton didn’t get embarrassed. It was hardly a well-oiled machine. Quite the opposite.

My initial solo flying story. I’d never flown an airplane in my life and when I enlisted in the Air Force they sent me to a month of Flight Screening Program Officer Training (FSPOT) in Hondo, Texas. Basically, they stuck us in Cessna 172s in western Texas, taught us the basics, and turned us loose. About half of us quit or were washed out. I made it somehow. I vividly remember my solo flight. I had about 10 total hours of flying time and I needed to solo to pass the program. I was super excited. I was supposed to take off, do three landings, and call it a day. So, I took off and I noticed the winds were unusually squirrelly. Hondo is an old WWII base with about a million runways. As soon as I was climbing out, the airport decided to flip the airport around and change runways because of the winds. I’m like “what?” “They never covered the runway change thing!” 🤣🤣🤣 I figured it out and stumbled through it. After I landed, my instructor met me and was beaming. I immediately called my mom. Not my dad who was a career USAF pilot and Vietnam vet, my mom. 35 years later, best career choice I ever made.

I don’t know if Air Force flying squadrons still do this but I pray they do. My squadron at Travis AFB, CA, was a great place to work. Our building was right on the flight line and I could see all of the jets on the ramp. As an operations officer, I could walk to them, chat with the crews, troubleshoot issues, etc. It was perfect operationally. Equally as important was the squadron morale. We had a fully furnished gym, a post-mission bar, and a beer machine for those nights when you landed at 3 AM and needed to unwind. We could take our lunch breaks and workout right there. And when we came home from flying, we had a place to hang out and tell stories about our trip. As an added morale boost, the bar was adorned with personal flying memorabilia. Most of it had been “procured” during crew rests and layovers around the world. It was cool. We also had a BBQ pit that we’d fire up on Fridays with a keg. I miss it tremendously. I miss the guys and girls more! 🇺🇸

Your evening flying Zen.

“There’s enough evidence to see how things are really going. Europeans would never agree to go anywhere near Iran unless they thought the tide was turning and that we’re going to win. Otherwise, they would keep still. And the reason that the petro nations of the Gulf survive is they have their finger in the wind and are very attuned to the climate. When you have Al Jazeera praising the United States’ bombing campaign and saying that it’s been underestimated and is brilliant and effective, you get the feeling that they think not only should the United States finish the job, but that it can and will finish the job. So you put it all together, and I think it’s pretty clear that this rope-a-dope strategy—that we’re going to tire before they do—is dependent on public opinion, the midterms, and the United States. And if Trump sees it through—and I think he will—I think they’re going to fall pretty soon.” ~ Victor Davis Hanson

@PolitiBunny Kinder, gentler days for sure!

The mister and I have been watching reruns of the Match Game from 1977 ... and man, Richard Dawson was the shit. Yes, we're at the point in our lives where we sit down after dinner and stream one or two episodes of an old gameshow every night. I'm not ashamed, lol. ;)

@cenkuygur @tardyhard It didn’t shoot it down.

Is everyone else also exhausted of Trump’s lies? Today he said, “We have nobody even shooting at us.” Earlier in the day, Iran shot down one of our F-35s.

It didn’t shoot it down.

I just received my first Wasson Watch. I love it and I love the company. Check them out! 🇺🇸

@TexasAmerica It’s not sexy.

@BuzzPatterson For some reasons the fighter Jocks that run the Air Force hate the A-10

When I worked for the Air Staff as a young staff officer, I was involved in programming and budgeting for aircraft and acquisitions. At the time, senior leadership wanted to “retire” A-10s. Thankfully, we convinced them otherwise. That was 1992. Today, A-10s are patrolling the Persian Gulf.

@Brick_Suit 🤣🤣🤣

@BuzzPatterson You would have gone lower. 👍

Need a haircut?

@eljean No. Just pilots playing. 😎

@BuzzPatterson Is this turbulence??? Asking as a timid flyer 😱

*Secretary of War.

🤣🤣🤣

More, this evening, on from Joe Kent’s second wife, Heather Kaiser. According to report on her, Heather met Kent less than a year after his wife, Shannon’s death. Heather—a former Intelligence Officer, turned visual artist—“supported the Kent family early on…offering support as a partner and mother figure to his boys”. The report further stated “Joe has publicly described Heather as a blessing who lifted them from darkness”. Here is one of her “art” pieces, with screenshots from the report, in the thread.

@margbrennan It’s “Secretary of War” and I do.

The Secretary of Defense tells the American public to pray for our troops on bended knee and invoke Jesus' name....