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Women in War: How Major Tammy Duckworth Lost Her Legs and What She Says Is Wrong with the War in Iraq
SM: How are you able to accept something like losing your legs so easily?
Tammy Duckworth: Sure, there are days when you’re watching TV and everyone’s talking about what new styles are in fashion with summer dresses and wedge heels and I know I can’t wear that. I’m never going to look how I used to.
It’s not so much the big things. It’s the small things that wear you down. Places you go that should be handicapped accessible but really aren’t. Some days when I don’t wear my legs because I’m tired and I’m trying to get gas for my car and I can’t because I can’t get out of my car and get my wheel chair between the truck and the pump and I can’t get gas and the attendant’s not coming out to pump the gas, which he’s supposed to by law.
I’m okay with not having legs because what was most important was that my buddies did their jobs that day and it was good for me to find out that I did mine.
SM: You could have been honorably discharged after your injury, but you’re still in the reserves. Did you consider leaving?
Tammy Duckworth: No, not at all. Before I was injured I had always planned to complete 20 years and when I was injured I had 13 years in. I have 15 years now and I certainly was not going to let someone else decide how I would live my life. Just because an insurgent shot at me doesn’t mean he gets to dictate how I should live my life.
SM: Do you think we can win the war in Iraq?
Duckworth: I don’t think it’s about winning or losing. I think it’s about what our mission is and what our goal is. You can’t win or lose something if you don’t know what the end state is. In the military everything you do has an end state. Every mission you’re given, you know what your goal is. But there’s no goal that I have ever seen stated by this administration. So how can you say win or lose?
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Your comments
| blackie | |
| Tammy, if you happen to read this, don't be so sure that you CAN'T wear those aforementioned summer dresses and wedge heels. I saw a girl on the news recently wearing SHORT SHORTS--damn near hot pants and SHE had lost a leg at 10. They're called LISA legs--just the thing for a night out on the town, when you don't want to be wheeled around or wear the "industrial" legs. Check 'em out IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY--they, fit HIGH, too. I THINK they're made by a firm called FDR orthotics. | |
| LILA -- Los Angeles | |
| Tammy--thank you so much for shedding light on the military experience. While I respect the fact that the troops put their lives on the line for their country, with this war (that I don't agree with), it's been rather hard to not think of the troops as being "brainwashed." Now I feel like I can't really say that anymore thanks to your story and explanation of what it's like and what it means to be a U.S. soldier. Thank you. | |
| asya | |
| what i appreciate most about this interview is that it's not sensationalist like many people out there. tammy does not simply bash on the administration but intellectually defines the problem and what we can do to alleviate the situation. | |
| fun_in_the_sun | |
| I think we have to listen to what Tammy said about the troops not having freedom of speech to speak out against the war. One of my friends is in Iraq and he agrees that we just need to get out of there. We need to start listening to the soldiers themselves who have seen everything first hand, because only they can tell us the truth about the situation. | |
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