er crash,” I thought I had not completed the landing. I became very despondent and thought “I deserve to lose my legs if I didn’t do my job as a pilot and land.” Because when you’re in that role, there are other people in that aircraft that don’t have access to the controls and you have a responsibility to your buddies to do your job.

Duckworth eventually found out that she did in fact land the helicopter and do her job that day. She said she had been less depressed about losing her legs and more about not completing her job, but that changed after her husband showed her a picture of her helicopter safely on the ground with holes from the rocket-propelled grenade that struck it.er crash,” I thought I had not completed the landing. I became very despondent and thought “I deserve to lose my legs if I didn’t do my job as a pilot and land.” Because when you’re in that role, there are other people in that aircraft that don’t have access to the controls and you have a responsibility to your buddies to do your job.

Duckworth eventually found out that she did in fact land the helicopter and do her job that day. She said she had been less depressed about losing her legs and more about not completing her job, but that changed after her husband showed her a picture of her helicopter safely on the ground with holes from the rocket-propelled grenade that struck it.SM: When you learned that you did land the helicopter, how did you feel?
Duckworth: Once I knew that I did my job until what would have been my last breath on earth, that’s all that matters. And I did, I literally did my job until I passed out from blood loss. That’s all I can ask of myself, so everything after that is doable. I can be as frustrated as I need to be with trying to put on my artificial legs, but it really doesn’t matter because I know that on the day that I needed to do what I was supposed to do, I did. It’s been a very freeing, liberating thing.

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.