Battle-hardened double amputee (D-Duckworth) to prospective congressional foes: 'Bring it'
Source: NBC
When Tammy Duckworth steps into Congress this January for her first term, shell be carried by two prosthetic legs and the potent notion that if she can survive a grenade blast while piloting a chopper, she surely can endure any political flak on Capitol Hill.
The worst day for me in Washington on the floor of the House is never going to be as bad as me getting blown up. So bring it, said Duckworth, a Democrat who represents Illinois 8th Congressional District, the suburbs north of Chicago.
One of the first women to fly combat missions in Iraq, Duckworths Black Hawk was hit by enemy fire in November 2004 as the aircraft skimmed tree tops at about 135 miles per hour. The explosion vaporized her right leg, smashed her left leg into the instrument panel, sheering it off, and tore away most of her right arm. Before losing consciousness, she used her remaining arm to try to land the sputtering chopper. On Nov. 6, she won election to the U.S. House.
Theres nothing anyone can say to me or do to me short of actually pointing a gun and shooting at me thats going to be as bad as it was in Iraq and that year I spent recovering. So its really freeing, Duckworth told NBC News. Had you talked to me 10 years ago, before I served and got hurt in combat, I would not have the courage to do what Im doing now.
Read more: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/25/15323763-battle-hardened-double-amputee-to-prospective-congressional-foes-bring-it?lite
I guess while the media obsesses over the day to day political potshots, it is refreshing to have a woman who has a true sense of perspective.
NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)patrice
(47,992 posts)elleng
(131,374 posts)no_hypocrisy
(46,310 posts)SoapBox
(18,791 posts)Oh I SO want you to kick some Puke and flipp'n Bagger ASS!
robinlynne
(15,481 posts)Iwillnevergiveup
(9,298 posts)that Tammy Duckworth and Alan Grayson will become great pals.
COURAGE
Hekate
(91,006 posts)I am so proud that all of us will have Tammy Duckworth in the House. She is outstanding.
jmowreader
(50,590 posts)She was shot down by an RPG-7 round fired by an Iraqi insurgent. RPG stands for "rocket-propelled grenade," but it's a bazooka--an antitank weapon. So...maybe "bazooka blast" rather than "grenade blast."
On the subject of our esteemed new congresswoman...she's going to tear Paul Ryan and company a new asshole on her first day on the job and it's only going to get better from there.
Third Doctor
(1,574 posts)I'm still loving the fact that she savagely beat that asshole Walsh.