In the late 1990s I was an Air Force pilot and Operations Officer for a C-141 squadron based at Travis Air Force Base, California. I was a single guy flying all over the world, sometimes in combat, with the American flag on my left shoulder. It was the greatest time of my life, personally and professionally, and I wouldn’t change a day. One morning I received a phone call in my office from the White House. Initially I thought it was the guys down the hall screwing with me (military squadrons are much like college fraternities; work really hard and play really hard), and I hung up. Immediately the White House called me back and confirmed that they were, in fact, the White House. Chagrined, I took the second call and was quite a bit more respectful.

In a matter of weeks I was jetting across the nation to interview at the White House to be the President of the United States Air Force Military Aide and carry the “Nuclear Football.” It’s the most important piece of luggage in the world, containing the means to launch nuclear weapons at the commander in chief’s order. It’s not a job you apply for. They find you. They found me, and they hired me. In the spring of 1996 I assumed my new responsibility and went to work for President William Jefferson Clinton.

The White House is an amazing place to work. I vividly remember walking into the building for the first time in the spring of 1996. The walls smell like American history, and the building is the most important in the world. I used to spend lonely evenings walking around the mansion and looking at historical books in the library, some once owned by George Washington. In the end, though, it’s both a residence and an office complex. Typically, it’s extremely busy during the day and eerily quiet at night. As a military aide, I had an office and a bedroom in the East Wing. Unfortunately, the president that I was chosen to work for was Bill Clinton.

Carrying the “nuclear football” is a sobering responsibility. For military aides, you are literally carrying the means to destroy the world in a large, black suitcase. A brief look back at our history reveals that with the development of nuclear weapons post-WWII, the Eisenhower administration implemented a set of nuclear protocols that included targeting and secured communications. The Kennedy administration eventually assigned these duties to the military aide, and every president since has had a military officer in close proximity to the president with the suitcase.

Upon my arrival, it didn’t take me long to realize that the Clinton administration was organizationally a mess and devoid of strategic vision or any sense of morality. Each and every day was reduced to managing scandals and circling the media wagons around the president. Also, shortly after my arrival, I learned of a female intern having an affair with the president. These behaviors would continue and soon open my eyes to the man and the office we’d elected twice and the one I’d sworn to protect and defend.

Following is but one episode I experienced in my White House years. There were many over the years that required me to question my service and question the man. You can read about it all in my bestselling book, “Dereliction of Duty.” 

During my two years, the ultimate in my horror, disappointment, and complete disgust for our president occurred on a return flight from Europe to DC on Air Force One. One of the military aide’s duties, obviously, is to accompany the president aboard Marine One and Air Force One wherever he/she goes. And Clinton traveled a lot. In the fall of 1997, I was traveling with Clinton on a European trip, and we returned late one night to the White House. After I’d ensured Clinton was safely off to bed I returned to the East Wing, hoping to finally get some sleep.

In my bedroom, I received a phone call from the presidential pilot. “Buzz, we have a problem,” he said grimly. “One of my female stewards (flight attendants) was approached and touched inappropriately by President Clinton, and she’s upset.”

I knew the woman he was referring to, and I liked her. She was bright, cheery, and beautiful. She was also an enlisted member of the United States Air Force – and had just been sexually molested by our commander in chief and my boss. I asked her how she would like to proceed. She was married, a young mother, and wanted to remain promotable in the Air Force. She didn’t want to be the next in a long line of women Clinton had abused. As a major at the time, I had to march down to the Oval Office the next morning and confront our president. All she wanted was an apology, and we arranged that the next time POTUS was on Air Force One.

I brooded over the fact that if our commander in chief had been actually serving in our armed forces, he’d have been sentenced to breaking big rocks into little rocks for years at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. But this was Bill Clinton and American “justice.” 

Throughout it all, I leaned heavily on my Christian faith to serve the office and the man. I wasn’t sworn to the man, but I was sworn to my God, the Constitution, and the office of the presidency, and I took that to heart. It’s often said that there are no atheists in cockpits or foxholes. Let me expand that to include, "There are no atheists when working in the White House for the Clintons and carrying the means to destroy the world.” Waking up every morning, looking into the mirror, and facing the day at the White House was worse than any bullets fired in anger at me or all of the flight emergencies over the years rolled into one.

It’s amazing the strength and fortitude you can receive when you ask. The scripture that got me through then and does now. As we celebrate the American tradition of “Thanksgiving,” let's be thankful for all we have. Have a wonderful and safe holiday, my friends.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13 (NKJV)