Jordan Wylie MBE: Ex-Tank Operator Conquering Unclaimed Mountains In Antarctica

**Jordan Wylie MBE** (0:00)
I was in a tank regiment.

**Eddie Hall** (0:01)
Oh, wait, which regiment?

**Jordan Wylie MBE** (0:03)
The King's Royal Hussars.

**Eddie Hall** (0:04)
So, the King Royal Hussars.

**Jordan Wylie MBE** (0:06)
I remember crying to myself, thinking, I want to get out of this country. I've lost more than a good mate, and I've just lost this little boy. It's probably my turn next. We thought it was going to be a few hours. It became a few days. And then all of a sudden, we got hit by pirates. So yeah, Antarctic Odyssey 2025 is a pioneering expedition to attempt to climb at least one, hopefully more, mountains that nobody's ever touched before. Minus 44 this morning at the South Pole. Minus 62, we win, Chill.

**Eddie Hall** (0:32)
Minus 62 Welcome back to The Good, The Bad and The Beast. Today's guest has faced pirates, war zones and the most extreme environments on the planet. He's a former soldier, turned adventurer, author and humanitarian. He's run through war torn countries, rode solo through some of the most dangerous waters on the planet and raised millions for children's education. Please welcome to the podcast, Jordan Wylie. How are you, sir?

**Jordan Wylie MBE** (1:10)
Thank you very much, sir. Pleasure to meet you.

**Eddie Hall** (1:13)
I forgot to say you, MBE. I missed that off your name. Jordan Wylie MBE. Is that the member of the British Empire?

**Jordan Wylie MBE** (1:20)
It certainly is, yeah. Yeah, thank you.

**Eddie Hall** (1:23)
I very often I get an MBE on the podcast, but we're amongst royalty.

**Jordan Wylie MBE** (1:29)
I don't know about that, but it's a privilege to be here.

**Eddie Hall** (1:32)
Thank you. Where have you come up from?

**Jordan Wylie MBE** (1:33)
I've come from down near Winchester. I'm from Blackpool originally, as you see. I'm a Northerner, but I'm living down south these days.

**Eddie Hall** (1:40)
What? Right. So Blackpool. I mean, we'll get on to that. Winchester. What's down there? Family or?

**Jordan Wylie MBE** (1:46)
Winchester. Yeah. Family. I was in the military for 10 years, and then when I left, I had made a daughter down south.

**Eddie Hall** (1:52)
You made a daughter. So you moved close to your daughter.

**Jordan Wylie MBE** (1:55)
So I stayed down where my daughter is, yeah.

**Eddie Hall** (1:57)
Brilliant. Military, where were you?

**Jordan Wylie MBE** (1:59)
I was in a place called Sidworth. Actually, the military link is quite good for you because I was in a tank regiment.

**Eddie Hall** (2:05)
Oh, which regiment?

**Jordan Wylie MBE** (2:07)
The King's Royal Hussars.

**Eddie Hall** (2:09)
So the King Royal Hussars, I have a friend who's in the King Royal Hussars, Ash Chesters. I made it, he was in my year at school, good lad. And he joined the army, I think 16, 17, maybe 18 Well, yeah, I think he's still up there.

**Jordan Wylie MBE** (2:24)
Yeah, maybe, yeah. I've been out quite a long time now.

**Eddie Hall** (2:27)
Yeah, I was at Sidworth, Swansea, at Swanson, is it? The camp?

**Jordan Wylie MBE** (2:31)
There is, that's just down there, yeah.

**Eddie Hall** (2:32)
Yeah, I was at the camp where all the tanks are, all the bulldogs and the challenges. Yeah, yeah. Massive, isn't it?

**Jordan Wylie MBE** (2:38)
Yeah, huge, huge. Because it's right on Salisbury Plain, which is obviously the big training area for tanks in the UK. Yeah. Which is good fun. I spent 10 years in a tank, basically.

**Eddie Hall** (2:48)
Brilliant, so you were a tank driver or an engineer or what?

**Jordan Wylie MBE** (2:51)
I was a driver, a gunner, an operator, so I did all the different jobs on a tank over my career.

**Eddie Hall** (2:56)
If you're a driver of the tank, you're in charge of the tank, aren't you?

**Jordan Wylie MBE** (2:59)
No, no, no, no, so actually the opposite, you're the newest member of the tank as the driver, which is a bit weird, isn't it?

**Eddie Hall** (3:06)
Wow, okay.

**Jordan Wylie MBE** (3:07)
Yeah, so if you're like a new boy who's 17, he's just got his driving license, typically in the tank regimen, your job will be driving the tank. So you're the lowest rank really.

**Eddie Hall** (3:17)
You're the lowest rank if you're the driver.

**Jordan Wylie MBE** (3:19)
Lowest but most important, bizarrely.

**Eddie Hall** (3:21)
So who looks after the tank then? Who maintains it?

**Jordan Wylie MBE** (3:24)
So the driver is generally, anything that breaks on it, mechanically he's going to be trying to fix it. But then, so when you've been a driver, your next job would be a gunner. So that's obviously the guy who's firing the gun. And people never believe me, but when you're shooting the gun on a tank, at the main armament, 120 millimeter on a Challenger 2, that's, it's the same control as a PlayStation pad. Literally the same, you know, and you're looking through a screen and you're sending your laser out at your target. And then when you're happy, you fire your button, you know? And then when you've done that, you've got the next job in the tank, which would be what we call the operator or the loader. So the big bullets, for a better word. He's putting them in so the gunner can shoot them. But he's also actually probably got arguably the equal most important job because he's responsible for making the brews and the dinner.