Lieutenant Colonel Robert “Buzz” Patterson, United States Air Force (Retired), is a military combat pilot, distinguished White House military aide, bestselling author, leadership consultant, popular public speaker and commercial airline pilot.  Among Patterson’s literary efforts include two New York Times best sellers, Dereliction of Duty and Reckless Disregard. His most recent book is Conduct Unbecoming: How Barack Obama is Destroying the Military and Endangering Our Security.

Patterson served 20 years as a pilot on active duty in the United States Air Force and saw tours of duty world-wide including combat operations in Bosnia, the Persian Gulf, Somalia, Rwanda, and Haiti.

>From 1996 to 1998, Colonel Patterson was the Senior Military Aide to President Bill Clinton. During that time he served at the right hand of President and Mrs. Hillary Clinton and was responsible for the President’s Emergency Satchel, otherwise known as the “Nuclear Football,” the black bag with the nation’s nuclear capability that accompanies the president at all times. As such, Patterson had an office and a bedroom in the White House and accompanied the First Family at all times. In addition, Colonel Patterson was operational commander for all military units assigned to the White House, which included Air Force One, Marine One, Camp David, and the White House Transportation Agency.

Among his many military commendations, Patterson received the Defense Superior Service Medal for accomplishments while at the White House and was awarded the Air Force Air Medal for flying combat support missions into then-besieged Sarajevo, Bosnia in 1994. He retired in 2001 to pursue a career as a commercial airline pilot, writer, consultant and conservative speaker.

He is a frequent guest on talk shows across the country, including television appearances on Hannity, The O’Reilly Factor, CBS’ Morning Show, Fox and Friends, Hardball with Chris Matthews, The Dennis Miller Show, C-SPAN’s Book Notes, Joe Scarborough, and MSNBC News. He’s also been heard on radio shows such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Dennis Prager, Michael Savage, Lars Larson and Hugh Hewitt.

Patterson was born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He is a Distinguished Graduate from the Air Command and Staff College; he has his Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Virginia Tech University and a Master’s in Business Administration from Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri. He and his family currently reside in California. Buzz is currently running for Congress in CA-7 this November.