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TomCADem

(17,390 posts)
Sun Nov 25, 2012, 10:36 PM Nov 2012

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, she’ll 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, Duckworth’s 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.

“There’s nothing anyone can say to me or do to me — short of actually pointing a gun and shooting at me — that’s going to be as bad as it was in Iraq and that year I spent recovering. So it’s 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 I’m 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.
11 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Battle-hardened double amputee (D-Duckworth) to prospective congressional foes: 'Bring it' (Original Post) TomCADem Nov 2012 OP
K/R (nt) NYC_SKP Nov 2012 #1
KICKIN'!!! patrice Nov 2012 #2
Yes, and with Elizabeth Warren in the Senate . . . elleng Nov 2012 #3
Republican House's worst nightmare: progressive Iraq veteran who isn't afraid of them. no_hypocrisy Nov 2012 #4
Go Tammy Go! SoapBox Nov 2012 #5
I am wowed. robinlynne Nov 2012 #6
It seems likely Iwillnevergiveup Nov 2012 #7
KnR. I have no doubt she is able to kick GOP butt with those legs Hekate Nov 2012 #8
Good article with one real minor sticking point jmowreader Nov 2012 #9
You go girl! Third Doctor Nov 2012 #10
FINALLY a politician with courage-funny she happens to be a woman. joanbarnes Nov 2012 #11

Hekate

(91,006 posts)
8. KnR. I have no doubt she is able to kick GOP butt with those legs
Mon Nov 26, 2012, 01:40 AM
Nov 2012

I am so proud that all of us will have Tammy Duckworth in the House. She is outstanding.

jmowreader

(50,590 posts)
9. Good article with one real minor sticking point
Mon Nov 26, 2012, 04:08 AM
Nov 2012

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.

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