05/21/2025
This story from Buzz Patterson is about Bill Clinton: "BILL CLINTON & THE AF-1 FLIGHT ATTENDANT
This one truly IS “Dereliction of Duty.”
We were returning late one night from a long trip to Europe on AF-1, landed at Andrews, and helicoptered on Marine One to the White House. We landed on the South Lawn at about midnight and, after ensuring the president was on his way to his residence upstairs, I headed to my bedroom in the East Wing. Shortly thereafter, my phone rang and it was the AF-1 presidential pilot. “Buzz, we have a problem,” he said. Oh sh*t,” I thought.
Apparently, Clinton had cornered a female AF-1 steward in the galley and mol*sted her. She was young, a staff sergeant, and married with children. I knew her, liked her, and she was super sweet. Now, she was in tears. I asked the pilot what she wanted. He told me that she didn’t want to be another “bimbo,” she wanted to remain in the Air Force and be promotable. All she wanted was an apology. In the world of Monica Lewinsky, Paula Jones, and Kathleen Willey, this wasn’t surprising to me. It was, however terribly disappointing and sad.
So, that morning, as a young major, I had to walk to the Oval Office and tell the commander-in-chief that he needed to apologize to the young lady. I’ve been shot at with hot metal but this was the toughest day in my life. I remember on my way to talk with him thinking “I didn’t sign up for this sh*t.”
Two weeks later, we got the two together onboard AF-1 in the president’s office and he offered a very uncontrite “half apology.” He didn’t care.
If anybody in the military had done that it would’ve been jail, expulsion, or both. It would’ve been Fort Leavenworth. But not for this president, not for this man. It was just another day. Yet another in my experiences working for a man with absolutely no integrity and no moral fiber."
