Happy Birthday, Buck!

Forty-one years ago today The First Mrs. Pennington delivered a bouncing baby boy at the Vandenberg AFB hospital near Lompoc, California. I’m not gonna lie and say “I remember it like it was yesterday,” coz I don’t. Certain moments, yes. But the “whole enchilada?” No. Mind you, that was back in the day when fathers were excluded from the delivery room (by law and USAF regulations) and relegated to pacing the floor in the hospital waiting room or something like it. Which, in my case, was the day room in the barracks of the 669^th Radar Squadron. Minor digression.

None the less…Buck is 41 today. And to say “I’m proud of him” would be a most egregious understatement. As the citations to military awards and decorations always say: “By his significant accomplishments and superior performance, Captain Pennington has reflected great credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.” His wife, children, and parents, too.

Happy Birthday, Buck.