Meg Tucker: The Valkyrie Project, Pt. 1 - Ep. 83
Building the Elite Podcast
What the Kiowa Warrior Was
Meg describes the Kiowa as an attack-reconnaissance platform, its upgrades, and its role until divestment in 2016.
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
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