Hey kids, gather around while Uncle Buzz tells you another "Bedtime Story." Grab some hot chocolate, get comfy, and I’ll put another log on the fire. (In case you missed my last column, you can read it here: Buzz's Bedtime Stories: That Time I Diverted Air Force One.)
This one is a scary one! It’s all about “Bill Clinton and the AF-1 Flight Attendant.” This one truly illustrates the “Dereliction of Duty” of President Bill Clinton.
When I was the Air Force Military Aide to President Clinton, I traveled with him everywhere. One night, we were returning to D.C. late after a long trip to Europe on AF-1. We landed at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, like we always do. We helicoptered on Marine One to the White House. We were all tired. It was around midnight when we landed on the South Lawn.
After deplaning with the “Nuclear Football” and a few of the president’s bags, I followed him to the residence elevator and ensured he was good before sending him up to bed. The presidential valets were ready to receive him. I headed to my bedroom in the East Wing. I was bushed. I showered and crawled into my bed to fall asleep to the TV. Shortly thereafter, my phone rang, and it was the AF-1 presidential pilot. “Buzz, we have a problem,” he said. "Oh s**t,” I thought.
Apparently, Clinton had cornered a female AF-1 steward in the galley and molested 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 and sitting in front of the AF-1 pilot and commander. I asked the pilot, a really good guy, 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. She just wanted it to go away. In the time of Monica Lewinsky, Paula Jones, and Kathleen Willey, this wasn’t surprising to me. It was, however, terribly disappointing and sad. I knew inherently that if I, or anybody else in the military, had done something similar, we’d be at Fort Leavenworth breaking big rocks into little rocks. Yet here was the “commander in chief,” and all he was facing was the prospect of an apology. I was appalled.
So, that morning, a few hours later, and as a young major, I had to walk to the Oval Office and tell the President of the United States that he needed to apologize to the young lady for his assault. Over my years as a combat pilot, I’ve been shot at with hot metal by men who really wanted to kill me, 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.”
I approached Clinton in the Oval Office. I’d arranged for his personal aide to be there too. He was nonplussed. Quiet. But he didn’t seem ashamed or embarrassed.
Two weeks later, on our next trip, we got the two together on board AF-1 in the president’s office, and he offered a very uncontrite “half apology.” He didn’t care. He was filling a square and covering his tracks. It was stunningly disappointing.
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. Character matters in people, especially our leaders, and in Bill Clinton, there was none.
