Becoming a Helicopter Pilot

Meg Tucker began her career as an Army Kiowa Warrior pilot. After the Kiowa was removed from the Army inventory, Meg was assessed and selected for Army Special Operations as a Psychological Operations officer. She has served in several conventional, Joint, and SOF roles in South Korea, El Salvador, and Syria. She left military service as a Major in 2023. 

In 2018, Meg founded The Valkyrie Project to fill the need for intuitive, woman-centric human performance training in the wake of the revocation of the Combat Exclusion Rule. Valkyrie is now a 501c3 nonprofit focused on the advancement of American servicewomen through research, education, and advocacy. Meg currently serves as the President of the Board of VP Inc. She holds a Bachelor's and Master's Degree in Modern Languages from Winthrop University and a Master's of Science in Information Strategy and Political Warfare from the Naval Postgraduate School.

More about Meg:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meg-tucker-937493207/

More about The Valkyrie Project:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-valkyrie-project/

Website: http://thevalkyrieproject.org

Facebook: @valkyrieprojectus

Instagram: @valkyrieprojectus

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@valkyrieprojectus

Timestamps:

00:00:23 Intro to Meg Tucker

00:01:23 How Did Meg Become a Helicopter Pilot?

00:04:34 Do Trainees Get to Choose the Aircraft They Want?

00:09:27 How Easy Is It to Control a Helicopter?

00:11:07 Emergency Procedure if the Engine Stalls

00:13:07 Practicing Slow Crash Landing Skids

00:15:21 How Many People Travel on These Helicopters?

00:15:55 Who Does the Shooting?

00:16:49 Shooting is a Team Effort

00:18:45 Challenges with a Weapon in a Helicopter

00:20:26 How Do You Account for Wind While Aiming?

00:22:15 Where Does the .50 Cal Sit in the Helicopter?

00:22:30 Calibrating the .50 Cal Inside of a Helicopter

00:23:57 How Does a Hellfire Missile Work?

00:24:43 How Much Time Do You Spend with Your Co-Pilot?

00:27:24 From Pilot to Joining Psy Ops

00:30:05 Sponsor Note: Our Book, “Building The Elite”

00:30:51 The SOF Recruitment Process and Making the System Work for You

00:33:07 Take Care of Yourself or the System Could Eat You

00:34:31 What is Psy Ops?

00:37:48 Digital Environments Used for Psy Ops Support

00:40:34 Being Stationed in Syria

00:44:51 Being Stationed in El Salvador

00:48:59 Strategies to Overcome Corruption and Tribalism

00:49:54 Stark Contrasts Between Living Situations on Deployment

00:51:24 How Bad Was the Food Poisoning You Had?

00:52:07 Outro