What They Don't Tell You About Taking Fire in the Kiowa Warrior

Joe Priester never planned on the Army. He joined the Air Force at 18, spent six years flying on AWACS radar planes, and watched 9/11 unfold from a locked-down base — and walked out of that day determined to become a pilot. Twenty-four days after leaving the Air Force, he was back in basic training, this time headed for Army flight school.

In this episode, Joe walks us through flying the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior — the Army's smallest, fastest, most maneuverable scout attack helicopter — through tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Iraq was quiet for him (his call sign was literally "the White Dove"). Afghanistan wasn't. He takes us inside the two-day stretch in August 2008 that changed everything: a vehicle-borne IED at the gate, a danger-close CASEVAC mission that pulled five wounded soldiers out under fire, and an engagement the next day that lasted over 20 hours.

We also talk about what came after — retiring in 2017, flying helicopter EMS today, and what he tells his own son, now an airborne infantryman, about carrying all of this.

TIMESTAMPS: 

01:50 – Wanting to be military since childhood (GI Joe, grandfather)

03:18 – Joining the Air Force out of high school (1997)

04:18 – Air Force basic training, Lackland AFB

06:39 – Operation Northern/Southern Watch deployments

08:14 – What a typical AWACS mission looked like

09:08 – 9/11 and Operation Noble Eagle

12:43 – Airborne school & Air Traffic Control course

14:17 – Where he was on 9/11 (Keesler AFB lockdown)

18:21 – Leaving the Air Force, walking away from a $35K bonus

19:xx – Army basic training at Fort Jackson

28:24 – Candidate school at Fort Rucker

33:17 – Flight school begins

45:57 – Selecting the Kiowa Warrior

59:40 – Choosing the 101st Airborne, Fort Campbell

1:03:11 – Deploying to Iraq, stuck in a supply job first

1:07:44 – First flight in Iraq — straight into a firefight

1:16:17 – The "White Dove" nickname

1:22:27 – Coming home, learning Afghanistan is next

1:26:30 – Arriving in Afghanistan (Jalalabad / FOB Fenty)

1:29:34 – First Afghanistan mission — RPGs on day one

1:39:08 – Life on rotation, moving to FOB Salerno

1:39:08 – Aug 17, 2008: VBIED attack at the gate

1:46:49 – Aug 18: FOB attacked overnight → CASEVAC mission begins

2:07:41 – Aug 19: engaging the two vehicles

2:18:43 – Rest of deployment, becoming instructor pilot / Fort Riley

2:22:02 – Retiring in 2017, flying helicopter EMS today

2:24:33 – Hardest part of coming home 

2:30:59 – Legacy of Vietnam-era Army aviators

2:34:18 – The Kiowa Warrior's retirement from service

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