SuperHuman - Tammy Duckworth

The American Dream I believe in is one that provides anyone
​ willing to work hard enough with the opportunity to succeed.

Tammy Duckworth is truly amazing! She has made history in so many ways and for so many reasons. She is a senator of Illinois, USA, and is the first ever disabled woman to be elected to the House of Representatives, as well as being the first Member of Congress with Thailand as her place of birth.

She has served as an army helicopter pilot in Iraq, and as Lieutenant Colonel in the Illinois Army National Guard.President Barack Obama awarded her the title of Assistant Secretary of the US Department of Veterans Affairs in 2009. ​

Sometimes it takes living with a disability - the trauma, the relearning, and the months of rehabilitation therapy - to uncover our true abilities and how we can put them to work for us in ways we may never have imagined.

Last year, she was elected to the role of Illinois Senator.

She comes from a family involved with the military. Her father served in WWII, and worked with the United Nations. As a result, her family moved around South East Asia a lot during her childhood. Duckworth became fluent in the Indonesian and Thai languages.
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In 1992, she rose to the position of Commissioned Officer, and chose to fly helicopters, which at the time was one of the very few combat jobs available for a woman.

I don’t ever want to be sad about my life.

Twelve years later, in 2004, Duckworth was deployed to Iraq, while she was in the middle of working towards a Ph. D in political science. In a catastrophic helicopter crash, she sadly lost one of her legs from just below the hip, and the other one from below the knee. Her right arm was nearly destroyed, as it was broken in 3 places. It was saved by doctors.

For her bravery in battle, Duckworth was awarded the Air Medal, and the Army Commendation medal. She retired from the army in 2014, and completed her Ph. D the following year.

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Since then, she has thrived in US politics, leading her to her current role as Senator.
Tammy Duckworth and her husband are the proud parents of a 4 year old daughter, and Tammy is expecting her second child very soon.
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This will make her the first Senator in US history to give birth while in office!