Sasseville was assigned to the Undergraduate Pilot Training program at
Columbus Air Force Base,
Mississippi, from 1985 to 1986, where he earned his pilot wings. From 1986 to 1987 he was assigned to the
F-16 Replacement Training Unit at
MacDill Air Force Base in
Florida. He was promoted to
first lieutenant on May 29, 1987. That morning Major
Dan Caine, supervisor of flying with the 113th Wing of the D.C. Air National Guard, received a call that the
United States Secret Service wanted fighter jets launched over Washington, D.C. Sasseville called Brigadier General David Wherley, the commander of the 113th Wing, to get permission to use their "war-reserve missiles". The four pilots who were available for the mission, who received authorization to get airborne in their fighter jets, were Sasseville, Lieutenant
Heather Penney, Captain Brandon Rasmussen, and Caine. The mission was to find United Airlines Flight 93 and destroy it, however they could. Since the fighter jets were absent of missiles and packed only with dummy ammunition from a recent training mission, there was only one way to do it and that was by
ramming the aircraft. Sasseville flew his aircraft alongside the aircraft of Penney. They agreed that he would take out the cockpit and that she would take the tail. Later, Sasseville explained: "We don't train to bring down airliners. If you just hit the engine, it could still glide and you could guide it to a target."
Post 9/11 In 2003, Sasseville was deployed during
Operation Iraqi Freedom and participated in major combat operations as Commander of the 410th Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron. Sasseville's retirement ceremony was held on May 29, 2024. ==Personal life==