Women at War
MJ copiloted Pedro One Five,
the lead helicopter. Its sister ship,
Pedro One Six, followed behind
and to one side as backup and
protector. Both helicopters carried
a crew of four, and Pedro One Five
carried the parajumpers as well.
When Pedro One Five and One Six
reached the ambushed convoy, two heavily armed US Army Kiowa helicopters
were holding off the Taliban fighters so Pedro One Five could land and evacuate
the wounded soldiers.
Pedro One Five’s pilot executed a spectacular steep landing to avoid Taliban
snipers. Two of the three parajumpers leaped out and ran toward the convoy.
The third parajumper remained on board the helicopter. His role was to take
over as mission leader if the pilot came under fire. The helicopter took off as
soon as the parajumpers hit the ground. Pedro One Five would land again when
the parajumpers radioed that the patients were stable and ready for transport.
Once patients and parajumpers were aboard, the helicopters would head to
Frontenac, a Canadian base not far from Kandahar.
One Five came under heavy fire soon after it took off. “I heard a crack
like a baseball bat hitting a home run, and then the helo’s windshield shattered
right in front of my eyes,” MJ wrote later in her 2017 memoir
Shoot Like a Girl
.
“Through the web of splintered glass, the Kandahar desert hills stretched out for
miles in front of me. . . . My right arm felt warm and wet, but I ignored it.”
The crew looked at MJ in horror and shouted at her over the intercom.
“For an instant all I could hear was the high whine of the engine and the deep
Mary Jennings Hegar is a retired Air
National Guard pilot. She wrote a memoir
called Shoot Like a Girl, published in 2017,
about her experiences in the US military.
In 2018 she ran for a seat in the US House
of Representatives to represent her district
in Texas.
5
