Tell us about the culture of the Air Force -and one particularly odious experience at the hands of a military doctor.Īt the time I got my first flight physical, only one man had ever put his hands on me or seen me naked and that was my husband. Even though you were top of your class, as a woman in a man’s world you were subjected to all sorts of sexual harassment and discrimination. The Balule Nature Reserve's Black Mamba Anti-Poaching Unit is the first of its kind.
I’m not a violent person, but I’m a capable person. I did fire arms and felt comfortable with knives. I went into martial arts, was always a fighter and an athlete. I devoted myself to becoming as strong as possible. And I do think feeling so helpless as a child is a big part of my make-up-my warrior spirit and drive to protect people. A recent lightning bolt was when someone asked me whether that was why I got into rescue. I was four or five, sitting by the fireplace, crying. There was absolutely nothing I could do about it. He chased her around the house and pinned her up against the wall by the throat. My sister was hitting him, trying to get him off my mom. I remember watching as he pushed my mom through a plate glass door. I don’t remember him being physically abusive to me because I was little and my mom protected me from a lot of that. My dad was an entitled, little rich boy who got into drugs and was very physically, mentally, and emotionally abusive. You write, “I credit a lot of my life’s success to my mother’s courage in getting us away from my biological father.” Talk us through your childhood-and how it affected your dream? Nobody ever said, “Girls can’t do that.” And as I got older, in high school, I started pushing toward that dream. No, that’s the beauty of the way that I was raised. It was a good description of who I was, at heart and soul. If you couple that with being raised with a real sense of duty and patriotism, then being a military combat pilot made sense. I was also always a bit of an adrenaline junkie. So helicopters were a natural fit for me. I don’t want the FAA telling me what altitude to fly at. It’s because of the rebel in me that doesn’t like rules. A lot of people ask why I don’t fly for the airlines now. I wanted to be a combat helicopter pilot after seeing Han Solo in Star Wars. I never dreamed to be a fighter pilot, because those guys are jerks. When-and why-did your dream of flying combat helicopters begin?
When National Geographic caught up with Hegar by phone at her home in Austin, Texas, the Purple Heart recipient explained why she sued the Pentagon, how she would never have become a pilot if her mother had not left an abusive husband, and how, in 2009, in Afghanistan, everything she had prepared for came together when her chopper was hit by the Taliban.
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