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Lt. Adam Patterson’s Navy career hasn’t followed what most people
might call the “usual” path. Having experienced his own evolution of
sorts, he emerged from the sea and eventually took to the air by
first starting as a submariner and later transitioning to an
aviator.
Back in 1996, as he was completing high school and
considering his next step, Patterson sat for the Armed Services
Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) test and scored in the 99th
percentile. Needless to say, the military recruiters came knocking.
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April 14, 2017 - Lt. Adam Patterson stands in front of one of
the MH-60S Helicopters he flies as a pilot with NAS Patuxent River's
Search and Rescue team, the NAS Patuxent River "SAR Dogs."
Patterson's Navy career has taken him above and below the sea,
starting with him as an enlisted submariner and taking him to the
heights of naval aviation. (U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Patrick Gordon)
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“The military wasn’t something I really wanted to do, but
I’d always wanted to fly,” said Patterson, currently serving
shore duty at NAS Patuxent River as a helicopter pilot with
the installation’s Search and Rescue (SAR) team. “I had
started flying at 13 and wanted to pursue it, but it was
expensive and time consuming.”
Patterson initially
considered becoming an Airman, but Navy recruiters pointed
out that the Navy has more aircraft than the Air Force, so
he signed up as a Sailor.
Nuking It
“The next thing I knew, they said
the only thing I qualified for was the nuke program and told
me I was going to be a nuke engineer,” he said. “I went to
boot camp two months after graduating and then I was off to
nuke school in Orlando.”
While his friends were
having a good time in college, Patterson was hitting the
books long and hard, studying 45 additional hours per week
beyond his normal classroom hours.
“We’d start at
0630 and wouldn’t get home until 2300 at night,” he added.
“There were 33 in my starting class but only three of us
graduated because the program was so difficult.”
Patterson was picked up, went to a naval nuclear power plant
in New York, did well in the program, and requested an
aircraft carrier out of San Diego.
“I was going to be
a nuke engineer on an aircraft carrier and I thought it’d be
great because I’d finally be near my aviation; but the
orders showed up and, unfortunately, they were to a sub out
of Norfolk,” he said, chuckling.
Not having
volunteered for a submarine, Patterson reported that this
wasn’t what he was supposed to be doing, but the Navy
countered by suggesting he try it for a year and if he
didn’t like it, they’d assign him to a carrier.
“Within six weeks of being there, I wanted to talk with the
XO; I wanted to be a submariner and I wanted it in my record
that I was a submarine volunteer,” Patterson recalled. “I
knew it was what I wanted to be. I started losing interest
in aviation and focused on being a submariner.”
As a
Nuclear Trained Machinist’s Mate (MMN), Patterson worked on
secondary propulsion systems and auxiliary equipment to make
the reactor work and provide the sub’s fresh drinking water,
high pressure compressed air and all the electrical power. A
skilled welder, he could also take a block of metal and
create any repair part the sub needed.
“Everything
that made the sub work, I owned two-thirds of it,” he noted.
“When I quickly got qualified up to the highest I could
possibly qualify in the nuke program as an enlisted man, I
got bored.”
Never glamorous, submarine life changed
further after the 2000 bombing of USS Cole (DDG-67), when
subs took on larger roles in mission sets and would spend 90
days or more at sea before pulling in to port.
Boredom Spawns Learning
“At the time, there was no Internet, no email, we didn’t
have phones; so I read books because there was nothing else
to do,” Patterson said. “I had all the quals in the
engineering spaces, so I started reading about submarining
and submarine warfare tactics, weapons employments,
torpedoes, cruise missiles. I learned everything until my
head hurt.”
Patterson learned so much he was able to
help further improve the capabilities and employment methods
of our modern submarines.
His efforts did not go
unnoticed. In 2004, Patterson went to Submarine Squadrons 6
and 8 in Norfolk and was responsible for 12 subs. That was
also the year he made Chief Petty Officer, after only six
years in the Navy.
“People would tell me I’d be MCPON
someday, so that was the plan,” he added. “But my captain
had a different plan and put me in for the Seaman to Admiral
Program so I could get my commission.”
Graduating
from the University of Arizona in 2008, Patterson planned to
remain a nuke submariner and take command of his own
submarine one day, but the aviation department reminded him
of his early desire to fly, so he took the test and scored a
near-perfect mark.
“I called my former captain and
told him I could probably get selected for aviation and he
told me if I wanted to do it, I had earned it and should go
for it,” he said.
Up, Up
and Away
So it was off to Pensacola for flight
school where Patterson did well and ultimately ended up in
helicopter training where he requested to fly CH-53s out of
Norfolk but, instead, got MH-60 Romeos out of San Diego.
“It’s amazing that
whatever you think, for whatever reason, someone else thinks
otherwise,” Patterson noted. “Somebody felt I needed to be a
submariner and I don’t know who that was, but I thank them
every day because they made my career what it is today. Same
thing with the Romeo — the 53s would’ve been neat to fly,
but the avionics package on the Romeo makes it the most
capable aircraft in the fleet, in my opinion, and it was a
great opportunity to be able to fly that asset.”
Patterson has seen his share of action. As a submariner,
from 1999 to 2005 he served on the fast attack sub USS
Albany (SSN 753) and spent nearly the entire time underway.
In 2004 alone, he spent 242 days under the sea. As an
aviator, with Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 73
he did a 10-month deployment, spending most of his time in
5th Fleet. Aboard the destroyer USS Gridley (DDG 101), he
made six port calls in 10 months. He even made it to an
aircraft carrier, spending three months with a strike group
aboard USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70).
“I’ve been on every
continent except Antarctica and I’ve sailed every sea, and
that’s all because of the Navy,” Patterson said. “I can’t
even tell you how many countries I’ve been to, all because
the Navy took me there.”
Shore Duty With Pax River’s SAR
Patterson
arrived at Pax River in October 2016 and flies the station’s
SAR MH-60 helicopter.
“It’s a stripped down version
made for troop transport for SAR so we can put as many
injured personnel in the aircraft as possible,” he added.
“The group of pilots and aircrewmen here are topnotch,
dedicated professionals. I see it every day. Every day we’re
focused on saving lives.”
Patterson urges young
Sailors not to be complacent, and always strive for more.
“It’s good to be good at your
job, but that should just happen,” he said. “It’s everything
else you seek out in professional development that makes you
the best Sailor. If you’re not trying to better yourself and
the people around you, then what are you doing?”
Eligible for retirement in two and a half years, Patterson
says if the Navy wants to keep him around longer, he’s
willing to stay.
“The Navy has a lot invested in me
and I’m still waiting for a niche to be carved out in the
aviation community,” he said. “I’m just now understanding
aviation the way I understood submarines. I’ve gotten to the
point where I can see places or processes that need
improvement or a change here or there. We’ll see if I get
the additional time to do that but, if not, I think I’ll be
okay finding a job.”
By U.S. Navy Donna Cipolloni, NASPR
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2017
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