Published: October 24, 2009 12:04 am         

Brigadier general talks to 21 Vance graduates

During his stint as a student pilot at Vance Air Force Base, 1st Lt. Patrick Pottinger spent one Friday morning attending a graduation ceremony for an earlier class.

The speaker at that day’s ceremony, he noted, seemed somewhat disconnected from his audience.

That was far from the case Friday when Pottinger received his wings, along with 20 other officers, as part of Joint Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training Class 10-01.

Their graduation speaker, after all, was Air Force Reserve Brig. Gen. Kevin Pottinger, Patrick’s father.

Brig. Gen. Pottinger’s own pilot training graduation took place in February 1978 at Reese AFB, Texas, a base which has since closed. Friday’s ceremony, he said, prompted memories of that long-ago day.

“It made me realize how a lot of time has gone by, and how fast it’s gone by,” said the general. “The beauty is, the legacy continues with Patrick.”

Brig. Gen. Pottinger, commander of Air Reserve Personnel Center in Denver, is a fighter pilot with more than 4,000 hours in the F-4 and the F-16. Patrick knew at a young age he wanted to follow in his dad’s footsteps.

“I remember being 8 years old and actually being out at an F-16 with him,” the lieutenant said. “We took a picture in front of it and I was right there. I was like, ‘OK, this is what I want to do.’ So I just tried to position myself to do that for pretty much my whole life. I’m glad it worked out.”

So is his father, who not only addressed the class, but got to shake his son’s hand as he walked across the stage and to pin his first pair of wings on his uniform.

Those wings have special meaning to the Pottinger family. They were given to the general before he began his own pilot training back in the late 1970s. They belonged to Kevin Pottinger’s ROTC instructor, a fighter pilot and former prisoner of war.

“When I left to go to pilot training he gave me those wings and I wore them, proudly,” the general said. “It was quite a moment for me to pin those on Patrick’s chest.”

Patrick Pottinger has been chosen as one of several pilots competing for a seat in the F-22 Raptor. Those finishing in the top half of their Introduction to Fighter Fundamentals class at Randolph AFB, Texas, will fly the F-22, while the others will be assigned to other fighters.

“I’m honored not only that he’s my son, but I know how well he did in pilot training, and I’m just honored to be able to say I’m associated with someone who’s going to go fly the F-22,” Brig. Gen. Pottinger said.

Patrick said he was impressed by the fact his father told stories “that were pretty humbling to him,” during his graduation speech.

The general told about an instrument mission during which he became disoriented and was within seconds of ejecting from his aircraft before the jet flew into the clear and he was able to spot the runway. The second involved a training mission and a mock dogfight with another jet. The other jet developed a mechanical problem and the pilot had to eject. Pottinger then had to shift his focus to a rescue operation.

“That was pretty neat to see a very experienced command pilot up there talking about a potential mistake that could have cost a career,” Patrick Pottinger said. “That’s kind of what the flying community is all about. We make mistakes, but we share those mistakes and we go ahead and swallow the pride so our fellow aviators don’t fall into the same traps that we might have.”

Having a father who was a fighter pilot, as well as an instructor pilot, proved beneficial to Patrick Pottinger during his training at Vance.

“Of course he would have an answer I would never have thought about,” Patrick Pottinger said. “It was a great resource anytime I needed to bounce anything off somebody.”