July 25, 2025 • 7 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Peter Braxton’s first day as a military pilot began in the skies above Ground Zero on 9/11. But that was just one of several first jobs that shaped his life. From high-stakes missions to everyday roles in civilian life, Peter reflects on the early experiences that defined who he is today.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American people.
To search for the All American Stories podcast, go to
the iHeartRadio app, to Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts. On the morning of September eleventh, two thousand
and one, Peter Braxton was the first military pilot in
(00:32):
the air over the burning Twin Towers in New York City.
It was his first day on the job. Here's Peter
sharing some stories from a few of his first jobs,
including those before and after serving in the Air Force.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
There's a like a pitch and putt golf little thing
with a little ice cream and miniature golf and driving range,
and I don't know, I think like high school whatever,
girlfriend or something like that got me the job, and
we're both working there, and I mean this is before
I don't know, they had tractors picking up golf ball.
So I used to go out there and scoop them
(01:07):
up with a little scooper and the drawing range and
then run over to the ice cream shop and you know,
try to make a twirly ice cream coneer, you know,
and I'd eat the mistakes. I was a kid. I
was fourteen or something like that. So I lasted a
little while there. But that's a seasonal job, right, so
you can't do that in the winter. So then I
worked at I applied where I got the job at
(01:29):
burger King, and I lasted three weeks at burger King.
And the reason I lasted three weeks is I was
like bored. I was my brain was atrophying. I was
making these burgers in the back and fries and they
were like, oh, you always promote you to the window,
you know, the drive through. I was like, no, no,
I don't do that. Like now, I thought the cut
(01:50):
cash here. Do you want to be a manager? I
was sixteen years old. I was like no, no, no, no, no, no.
It's hard work. Actually, I mean, I don't know if
people understand this. This is labor. I mean you're I
mean lunchtime. I mean, these things are flying off the
you know, the bunds are going everywhere, the burgers are
flaring up, and and you know you're running out of cheese,
(02:12):
and obviously it's fast food, so you gotta think ornice,
you gotta drop the fries. And then the alarm goes
off and it's I was like, I don't know if
this is right, Like, I don't know if this is
where I was built to be. I didn't last three
weeks at that place. It was that's the issue that
was it. It was grueling work. You had to be perfect.
(02:33):
People get upset they're spending three dollars or ninety nine cents.
They want every penny of value out of that stuff.
That's hard, hard work. You gotta be there on time.
It gets pace hectic people. You know, expectations unmant Expectations
communicated or not is the root of all conflict. If
the burger doesn't show up with out the pickles or whatever,
(02:56):
this conflict an expectation isn't met. I think it was
a good lesson and I learned about people, you know people.
So I got a job at a grocery store as
a bagger. And this is back in the day where
they like tip you a buck or something like that,
nineteen ninety one, I don't know, nineteen ninety and I
(03:17):
remember this woman came in furious because I put the
bananas on the bottom of the bag, and you know,
she had brought them home, and you know, these dollar
ninety eight bananas were smashed. They were they weren't, they
were deformed, and I mean got in my face and
(03:38):
was like, I'll buy you a banana tree, like I'm sorry,
Like I didn't I apologize. I was, you're right, You're right,
I'm sorry. And I remember they like put me on
like punishment. So my punishment was to return all of
the things that people don't buy and go find where
(03:58):
they're supposed to go back on the shelf. And I
did that for a while. And you know, in Road,
New York, it snows a lot, and you know, one
night we have this snowstorm and nobody was coming. I mean,
it was just like why is the store open? And
so they you know, Pete, you're going to go out
and shovel, you know, the sidewalks and clean them off.
And I was like, well, why isn't Bethanie doing that?
(04:20):
Like you know, no, Pete, you're gonna go shovel the
shovel the sidewalk. So I go out and I shovel
the sidewalk at the grocery store and I'm like, where
am I gonna put all the snow? And I covered
Bethany might this might classmate from high school? Her car
up in snow, and I thought it was the funniest.
It was like King of the Hill, right, Like I
was the funniest thing. I just buried her car in snow,
(04:41):
and we were I mean, if she here, he hears
the Shultz Show, remember this? And she started laughing. Yeah,
she was. She was like complaining, laughing, crying all at once.
And Bettina, she's her out. She was like the manager.
I mean I was sixteen, Betina couldn't have been twenty two,
but I thought she was like forty eight, right, like
she was in charge. She's like, you're gonna go clean
(05:03):
off her car and you're gonna clean it all. I
was like, all right, So I went back out in
the snowstore and cleaned off bath of these car. I
cleaned off Betina's car, I cleaned off my car. I
mean nobody was coming into the store. You know, you
have two hemispheres of your brain for a reason, and
one is more logic in math, the other's art and
(05:26):
creative thinking. And you know, for me, I kind of
felt like my I don't know if it was left
brain and right brain, but the creative thinking site was
kind of atrophying a little bit, and so I remember
walking out was I was at Credit Suite and I
walked out and it was a suit tie, you know,
the whole Swiss banker looking, and I was. I walked
(05:50):
by this art store and I looked in it. It
was like a movie. I stopped. I looked in the
art store and I went in. I bought these big canvases,
huge like you I don't know if they're four by
sixes or something like that. And I never painted anything,
but I hung the canvas is up and so I remember,
(06:10):
you know, I guess the party trick with you know,
i'd maybe if I brought a date home to cook
her dinner or something like that, you know, they'd seen
the canvas. You know, some would say. Some would say,
I'm like, oh, you don't see it. You know, you
don't see the art.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
There's nothing odd. I mean, there's nothing odd this thing.
I just never got around to do it. But what
I did do to kind of fulfill that was to cook.
So I like to create things. And here's the good news,
you get to eat it.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
And a terrific job on the editing production in Storytelling
by our own Greg Hangler, and a special thanks to
Peter Braxton, they're talking about his first jobs, including those
before and after serving in the Air Force, and the
one before. It just made me laugh because my first
job was at Roy Rogers and I lasted a very
short time because it is brutal work. It's like an
(07:00):
assembly line and it's one hundred and ten degrees and
people are screaming at you all the time. The story
of first jobs in the end, that's what this really was,
and work in general, and what we learned from it
and some of the things we don't learn, and especially
what we really learned what God's made us to do.
Peter Braxton's story of his work before and after his
(07:21):
service in the Air Force. Here on our American Stories.
Here are tot our American Stories. We bring you inspiring
stories of history, sports, business, faith and love. Stories from
a great and beautiful country that need to be told.
But we can't do it without you. Our stories are
(07:42):
free to listen to, but they're not free to make.
If you love our stories in America like we do,
please go to our American Stories dot com and click
the donate button. Give a little, give a lot, help
us keep the great American stories coming. That's our American
Stories dot com
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American people.
To search for the All American Stories podcast, go to
the iHeartRadio app, to Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts. On the morning of September eleventh, two thousand
and one, Peter Braxton was the first military pilot in
(00:32):
the air over the burning Twin Towers in New York City.
It was his first day on the job. Here's Peter
sharing some stories from a few of his first jobs,
including those before and after serving in the Air Force.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
There's a like a pitch and putt golf little thing
with a little ice cream and miniature golf and driving range,
and I don't know, I think like high school whatever,
girlfriend or something like that got me the job, and
we're both working there, and I mean this is before
I don't know, they had tractors picking up golf ball.
So I used to go out there and scoop them
(01:07):
up with a little scooper and the drawing range and
then run over to the ice cream shop and you know,
try to make a twirly ice cream coneer, you know,
and I'd eat the mistakes. I was a kid. I
was fourteen or something like that. So I lasted a
little while there. But that's a seasonal job, right, so
you can't do that in the winter. So then I
worked at I applied where I got the job at
(01:29):
burger King, and I lasted three weeks at burger King.
And the reason I lasted three weeks is I was
like bored. I was my brain was atrophying. I was
making these burgers in the back and fries and they
were like, oh, you always promote you to the window,
you know, the drive through. I was like, no, no,
I don't do that. Like now, I thought the cut
(01:50):
cash here. Do you want to be a manager? I
was sixteen years old. I was like no, no, no, no, no, no.
It's hard work. Actually, I mean, I don't know if
people understand this. This is labor. I mean you're I
mean lunchtime. I mean, these things are flying off the
you know, the bunds are going everywhere, the burgers are
flaring up, and and you know you're running out of cheese,
(02:12):
and obviously it's fast food, so you gotta think ornice,
you gotta drop the fries. And then the alarm goes
off and it's I was like, I don't know if
this is right, Like, I don't know if this is
where I was built to be. I didn't last three
weeks at that place. It was that's the issue that
was it. It was grueling work. You had to be perfect.
(02:33):
People get upset they're spending three dollars or ninety nine cents.
They want every penny of value out of that stuff.
That's hard, hard work. You gotta be there on time.
It gets pace hectic people. You know, expectations unmant Expectations
communicated or not is the root of all conflict. If
the burger doesn't show up with out the pickles or whatever,
(02:56):
this conflict an expectation isn't met. I think it was
a good lesson and I learned about people, you know people.
So I got a job at a grocery store as
a bagger. And this is back in the day where
they like tip you a buck or something like that,
nineteen ninety one, I don't know, nineteen ninety and I
(03:17):
remember this woman came in furious because I put the
bananas on the bottom of the bag, and you know,
she had brought them home, and you know, these dollar
ninety eight bananas were smashed. They were they weren't, they
were deformed, and I mean got in my face and
(03:38):
was like, I'll buy you a banana tree, like I'm sorry,
Like I didn't I apologize. I was, you're right, You're right,
I'm sorry. And I remember they like put me on
like punishment. So my punishment was to return all of
the things that people don't buy and go find where
(03:58):
they're supposed to go back on the shelf. And I
did that for a while. And you know, in Road,
New York, it snows a lot, and you know, one
night we have this snowstorm and nobody was coming. I mean,
it was just like why is the store open? And
so they you know, Pete, you're going to go out
and shovel, you know, the sidewalks and clean them off.
And I was like, well, why isn't Bethanie doing that?
(04:20):
Like you know, no, Pete, you're gonna go shovel the
shovel the sidewalk. So I go out and I shovel
the sidewalk at the grocery store and I'm like, where
am I gonna put all the snow? And I covered
Bethany might this might classmate from high school? Her car
up in snow, and I thought it was the funniest.
It was like King of the Hill, right, Like I
was the funniest thing. I just buried her car in snow,
(04:41):
and we were I mean, if she here, he hears
the Shultz Show, remember this? And she started laughing. Yeah,
she was. She was like complaining, laughing, crying all at once.
And Bettina, she's her out. She was like the manager.
I mean I was sixteen, Betina couldn't have been twenty two,
but I thought she was like forty eight, right, like
she was in charge. She's like, you're gonna go clean
(05:03):
off her car and you're gonna clean it all. I
was like, all right, So I went back out in
the snowstore and cleaned off bath of these car. I
cleaned off Betina's car, I cleaned off my car. I
mean nobody was coming into the store. You know, you
have two hemispheres of your brain for a reason, and
one is more logic in math, the other's art and
(05:26):
creative thinking. And you know, for me, I kind of
felt like my I don't know if it was left
brain and right brain, but the creative thinking site was
kind of atrophying a little bit, and so I remember
walking out was I was at Credit Suite and I
walked out and it was a suit tie, you know,
the whole Swiss banker looking, and I was. I walked
(05:50):
by this art store and I looked in it. It
was like a movie. I stopped. I looked in the
art store and I went in. I bought these big canvases,
huge like you I don't know if they're four by
sixes or something like that. And I never painted anything,
but I hung the canvas is up and so I remember,
(06:10):
you know, I guess the party trick with you know,
i'd maybe if I brought a date home to cook
her dinner or something like that, you know, they'd seen
the canvas. You know, some would say. Some would say,
I'm like, oh, you don't see it. You know, you
don't see the art.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
There's nothing odd. I mean, there's nothing odd this thing.
I just never got around to do it. But what
I did do to kind of fulfill that was to cook.
So I like to create things. And here's the good news,
you get to eat it.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
And a terrific job on the editing production in Storytelling
by our own Greg Hangler, and a special thanks to
Peter Braxton, they're talking about his first jobs, including those
before and after serving in the Air Force, and the
one before. It just made me laugh because my first
job was at Roy Rogers and I lasted a very
short time because it is brutal work. It's like an
(07:00):
assembly line and it's one hundred and ten degrees and
people are screaming at you all the time. The story
of first jobs in the end, that's what this really was,
and work in general, and what we learned from it
and some of the things we don't learn, and especially
what we really learned what God's made us to do.
Peter Braxton's story of his work before and after his
(07:21):
service in the Air Force. Here on our American Stories.
Here are tot our American Stories. We bring you inspiring
stories of history, sports, business, faith and love. Stories from
a great and beautiful country that need to be told.
But we can't do it without you. Our stories are
(07:42):
free to listen to, but they're not free to make.
If you love our stories in America like we do,
please go to our American Stories dot com and click
the donate button. Give a little, give a lot, help
us keep the great American stories coming. That's our American
Stories dot com
Host
Lee Habeeb
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