Patrick McCaslin was born in 1941 in Elwood City, Pa., and attended Geneva College graduating with a Bachelor's degree in pre-med. Always wanting to fly, he joined the Air Force to become a pilot, completing Officer Training School at Lackland AFB, Texas, and navigator training at James Connelly AFB, Waco, Texas. He met his wife there and was married at the time he graduated in February of 1965. Following, went to Mather AFB, Calif., for training as a bombardier, and Castle AFB, Calif., for crew training in B-52s. In February 1966, he proceeded to his first operational assignment at Minot AFB. In late 1968, he left for pilot training at Laredo AFB, Texas, selecting an OV-10 forward air control aircraft, and then to transition training in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., in 1970. He completed water survival training at Homestead AFB, Fla., and then transferred to Southeast Asia in June 1971.
McCaslin returned to the United States as an instructor pilot for four years at Williams AFB, Ariz. He attended the Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell AFB, Ala., and was assigned to Oklahoma City, Okla., as a squadron commander in charge of a recruiting squadron for three years. In 1979, he was assigned to the Pentagon in the programs directorate for four years; then to Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., for a year; then to San Antonio as the director of programs in Headquarters, Air Training Command for two years; then to Bergstrom AFB, Texas, in the 12th AF Headquarters as director of programs for two years. In 1988, he went to Monterey, Calif., to learn Spanish, prior to his assignment in 1989 as the chief of the military assistance group in Lima, Peru, responsible for the military-end of the drug war. In 1991 he returned to the U.S. and retired at Bergstrom AFB, Texas, with the rank of Colonel.
During the UFO events, McCaslin (seated in the lower flight deck facing aft) was monitoring the communications via his headset and flight-following the B-52 on radar. He requested that Richey switch the radar mode to Station Keep, turn on the 35mm radarscope camera, and continued communicating the position of the UFO to the pilots during the air-radar encounter. He attended the crew debriefing later in the morning in the office of Gen. Holland, and was not interviewed during the official investigation. Several days following the events, he was invited to participate in a meeting at 5th BMW headquarters with several Air Force officers who had apparently arrived from Washington D.C., to review the B-52 radarscope film.