Alumna Spotlight

Lt. Kylie Voss: MMA Graduate, Blackhawk Pilot, President of the Jacksonville Chapter of the Alumni Association

by Seth Brown ’98 and Karen Cukierski

Lt. Kylie (née Bradley) Voss ’18, Navy Blackhawk pilot, knew that she wanted to be a Navy pilot early on. In fact, that was her answer to the question, “what do you want to be?” when she was being recruited for the MMA Women’s Soccer team back in 2013. Coach Seth Brown’s first recruitment success, Voss attended MMA, participated in the Regiment of Midshipmen and NROTC, played on the soccer team, and graduated with a degree in Marine Engineering Technology.

She attended Naval Postgrad School, studying Under Sea Warfare Engineer Acoustics in the Undersea warfare program, and flight school, and is now a Navy Seahawk pilot as well as the new president of the Jacksonville chapter of the Maine Maritime Academy Alumni Association.

Currently, Voss is flying the MH 60R, which is a Black Hawk that’s tricked out for maritime surface subsurface warfare. Her daily routine starts with checking in with the ATs (Aviation Electronics Technician) and AEs (Aviation Electrician’s Mate) in preparation for flight, discusses the flight plan and emergency plans, conducting a pre-flight safety check. Then it’s up in the air, flying for three hours, practicing maneuvers and teaching younger pilots how to handle emergencies.

Voss credits the Academy with helping her to achieve her goals by teaching her that she could handle a lot, the importance of time management, the ability and importance of being flexible, and that if you don’t know, figure out where to look for the answer. MMA also did a good job in preparing her for the extremely high-level math she was tasked with in post-graduate school as well as helping her learn how to focus, another skill that came in handy in graduate school.

Being an MMA athlete impacted her career as well. Flying is definitely a taxing physical challenge at times, and the physical training she did as a soccer player showed her the importance of a daily routine to keep yourself in good shape. Teamwork is another important takeaway from her years on the pitch: learning how to deal with people that maybe aren’t your favorite, but it’s important to respect them and their importance to the team, which translates directly to flight crew mentality.

Perseverance might be the biggest thing Voss learned at MMA. The soccer team locker room has a poster in it that says, “Don’t Stop Believin’.” The team would sing the Journey song as they walked from the locker room to the field and everyone on the team would do a little skip-jump and touch the ‘magical water pipe’. Voss reflects how great it was that so many players and coaches and staff were out there trying to do the best they could, taking every opportunity that was presented to them, and working together to rebuild the program.

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Photo: Adobe Stock