The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Texas Lottery Veteran Recognition: Troy Pennington
09.17.2021 | Football
The retired lieutenant colonel will be recognized when Texas Football hosts Rice.
Troy Pennington is a retired Marine, a Naval Aviator, a fighter pilot skilled in air-to-air and air-to-ground combat, and a well-rounded experimental test pilot who flew test missions in the military and civilian sectors.
Yet Pennington's motivation has always been service to others, including an appreciation for the bigger picture of human involvement and cooperation.
As a Marine Corps pilot, he understood that his primary purpose was to support Marine ground forces, and later as a test pilot, he believed his duty was to evaluate every aspect of the aircraft so that it could be handled by the pilot in the field to the exact specifications for which it was intended.
Pennington credits this Marine Corps understanding and appreciation to the "The Basic School" (TBS).
"You are exposed to a lot of things at TBS. When you are out in the fleet and in support, you probably saw something of what they're doing in training," Pennington said. "You have an understanding of what they're going through."
Pennington graduated with an engineering degree from The University of Texas, where he spent four years in the Longhorn band and also Navy ROTC. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Marine Corps in December of 1972.
Following in the footsteps of his father, who served in the Navy for more than 20 years, Pennington was motivated to become a pilot, and that opportunity came in the Marine Corps, which falls under the Department of the Navy.
Pennington began officer basic training in Quantico, Virginia for six months, which exposed him to a wide array of military tactics and operations. He then advanced to the Naval Air Training Command in Pensacola, Florida.
After his designation as a Naval Aviator with his "wings of gold" in October 1974, Pennington transitioned to F-4 Phantom training.
"Basically, I was a fighter pilot," he said.
He served in five USMC F-4 Phantom squadrons and was also a flight instructor before he attended and graduated from the Navy Test Pilot School in 1985. He was assigned to the F-16 Falcon Test Squadron at Edwards AFB in California, where he participated in all aspects of flight testing the F-16.
"Your observations and evaluations are no good unless they can be explained," he said.
He retired from the Marine Corps as a lieutenant colonel in March 1993. He later served as a Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company F-16 Test Pilot and later became the Chief Test Pilot and Chief Airshow Pilot in the Falcon. He has extensive flight testing, test support, aircraft acceptance, airshow and demonstration experience in the F-16 Falcon.
Troy and his wife of more than 50 years, Marilyn – also a UT Austin graduate – are fully retired and reside in Texas, along with their two children, both married, and five grandchildren.
Thanks to the Texas Lottery, great things are happening all across Texas. Every year, more than $1 billion of lottery revenue goes to good causes like public education and veterans' assistance programs.
Beginning with the first veterans' dedicated scratch ticket game in 2009, the Texas Lottery has now contributed over $166 million to the Fund for Veterans' Assistance.
The Texas Lottery is celebrating 30 Years of Winning. Since 1992, the Texas Lottery has generated more than $33 billion in revenue for the state of Texas. Through strict adherence to their vision, mission and core values, the Texas Lottery is dedicated to ensuring that this support continues.
