THE DALLES — Travis Burdine always knew he wanted to be a pilot.
As a child, he was inspired after watching the movie ‘Top Gun,” and while in high school, Burdine knew his parents would not be able to assist him financially when it came time to go to college. To him, attending the United States Air Force Academy made all the sense in the world.
“I always knew I wanted to go to college and … I always wanted to be a pilot, and so the Air Force Academy was a great opportunity to fly airplanes, get free college and get a job afterwards that would be fun and exciting, and so that was it,” Burdine said.
Travis Burdine piloting an E-3 AWACS over Afghanistan while in the Air Force.
Photo courtesy Travis Burdine
Leaving his hometown of Portland, Oregon, Burdine attended the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 1990, graduating as a 2nd Lieutenant with his Bachelor of Science of Management in 1994. He gained his Master of Business Association (MBA) in Management from Wright State University in 1997, before he began training as a pilot at Laughlin Air Base in Del Rio, Texas. He learned to fly E-3B Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircrafts the following year. Over the years while in the USAF, Burdine also earned a master’s degree in military operational art and science from USAF Air Command and Staff College and a Master of Arts in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College.
When stateside, most of Burdine’s day to day consisted of defense training. “Should something bad like 9/11 happen, like it did, then you stop, go do what you were trained to do,” he said.
While deployed overseas, Burdine was flying in places such as Saudi Arabia, Oman, Iraq, Afghanistan and throughout Europe.
“The airplane I flew … it had about 25-35 people on board, and in the back there’s a lot of computer screens and they’re talking to the fighters and the bombers and the intelligence airplanes … we would fly really long missions and we could refuel our airplane in the air, which was super exciting,” Burdine recalled.
Travis Burdine and his wife Sheril pose together in their backyard in The Dalles.
Photo courtesy Travis Burdine
After about 10 years flying AWCAS, for which he gained approximately 2,500 flight hours, Burdine began flying remotely piloted aircrafts called Predator drones. According to the Air Force af.mill website, MQ-1B Predators are “armed, multi-mission, medium-altitude, long-endurance remotely piloted aircrafts.”
“Most of the people in the cockpit, where you sit and fly, is in Las Vegas, but the drone is in Afghanistan, and so you fly it via satellite from really, really far away,” Burdine said. “It’s just really amazing technology …”
Utilizing his experience in drones, Burdine became a drone subject matter expert, working for the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. for two years advising the United States Air Force (ASAF) on drones, including which ones to purchase, what they could do and their overall management.
“Even [when] the other services, the army and otherwise, had questions, they would come to me and I would help them figure out how to manage the future of the drone world,” Burdine said.
While in the USAF, Burdine and his wife, Sheril, with whom he shares nine children, moved approximately 14 times throughout the U.S., living in states such as Oklahoma, Nevada, Alabama, Rhode Island, Missouri, Ohio and Washington, D.C.
“It was a great adventure, we got to see all the different corners of the country,” Burdine said.
The Burdine family.
Photo courtesy Travis Burdine
As with many families in the military, some sacrifices had to be made, with Burdine being deployed overseas approximately seven times for sometimes four to six months at a time. “We spent a lot of time away from family, missed a few birthdays along the way, but I got to see the births of all of my children, so that was exciting,” he said.
After 23 and a half years of service, Burdine made the decision to focus on his family and retire from the USAF in 2016. Although he had attained the rank of O-6 Colonel, he retired as an O-5 Lieutenant Colonel, as he had not held the O-6 rank for the required three years to retire at that grade.
“It was a great adventure … no regrets,” Burdine said of the experience.
When deciding where to move post-retirement, Burdine’s wife found a property in The Dalles, and they both instantly fell in love with it. “It was up for sale for 10 full years, and nobody bought it until my wife found it online,” Burdine said. “My wife’s like, ‘Look at this property,’ and it was done, there we go. I mean, we basically bought it sight unseen …”
Making the decision to return to their home state of Oregon, Burdine’s family moved to The Dalles in 2016. He began working for Insitu, a subsidiary of The Boeing Company located in Bingen. Insitu, according to their website, designs, develops, produces and operates “high-performance, cost-effective uncrewed aircraft systems.” Burdine worked for the company as a director of business development, helping in the navigation of selling drones to different branches of the military.
“The drones there [at Insitu] are much, much smaller than what I flew in the Air Force, but it worked out really, really well,” Burdine said.
After almost seven years, Burdine decided to retire from Insitu in April 2023, and now operates Handsfull Farm, a luxury “glamping” site and event venue by Mill Creek in The Dalles with his wife and family (www.handsfull.farm/about-us). A working farm, the glamping site can be rented out year-round, and their venue for hosting events such as weddings, quinceañeras and birthdays can accommodate more than 200 people.
The Burdine family.
Photo courtesy Travis Burdine
“We love the Great Pacific Northwest, we love The Dalles, and we’re looking to share it with other people,” Burdine said.
When asked what he remembers most about his experience in the USAF, Burdine said it is the people he met throughout his career. “Whether I was at the Pentagon or … deployed, you know, living in a tent on the other side of the planet,” he said, “I have a large family of friends and people that I would trust with my life.”
Burdine encourages younger people to consider a career in the military and is happy to speak with anyone who is interested and wants to learn more. “I’d love to talk about military options,” he said. “Talk to people if you’re trying to make life decisions, because it worked out really, really well for me.”
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This article appeared in Columbia Gorge News' annual Veterans Salute special publication.
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