assignment- Why might Duckworth have chosen to narrate her family’s long history with the US military? Does that information enhance her credibility (ethos)? Why or why not? Duckworth also asserts that she fell in love with the “camaraderie and sense of purpose” (886) that the military instilled in her. What is a personal experience that has given you a sense of camaraderie and purpose? Please briefly describe your experience. Please respond to these questions in a post of a minimum of 150 words.

article-What I Learned at War

TAMMY DUCKWORTH

TAMMY DUCKWORTH is a US senator from Illinois and a recipient of the Purple Heart award, given to US service members wounded or killed in war. In 2004, while piloting an army helicopter in Iraq, she suffered wounds that led to the amputation of both legs and the loss of some mobility in her right arm. She is the first double amputee to serve in the Senate, as well as the first senator to give birth while in office. This 2015 essay appeared in Politico, an online magazine.

THE U.S. MILITARY HAS BEEN A PART OF ME since long before I signed up myself. I saw war up close early. I was born in Bangkok in 1968 and grew up in Southeast Asia with my Thai mother and my American father, who first came to the region to fight in Vietnam and stayed to work assisting refugees. I remember my mother taking me as a very little kid to the roof of our home in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, to look at the bombs exploding in the distance. She didn’t want us to be scared by the booms and the strange flashes of light. It was her way of helping us to understand what was happening.

Southeast Asia was home for much of my childhood, but I moved to Hawaii when I was in high school. My first direct encounter with the military was when I joined ROTC as a graduate student, although my father, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps, can trace the military service in our family all the way back to the Revolutionary War. I was interested in becoming a Foreign Service officer; I figured I should know the difference between a battalion and a platoon if I were going to represent my country overseas someday. What I didn’t expect was to fall in love with the camaraderie and sense of purpose that the military instills in you and even with the misery of training. The thing is, when we were exhausted and miserable, my fellow cadets and I were exhausted and miserable together. When the instructor yelled, he wasn’t singling anyone out, but yelling at all of us, together. It took all of us working as a team to succeed.

And thank God for that. I am alive today—a proud member of Congress and an even prouder wife and new mother—because my buddies learned the same lessons. I had been pursuing a Ph.D. in political science when my National Guard unit was sent to Iraq. Eight months into our deployment, in November 2004, a rocket-propelled grenade fired by Iraqi insurgents tore through the pilot’s side of the Blackhawk helicopter I was flying. My right leg was vaporized; my left leg was crushed and shredded against the instrument panel. My pilot in command miraculously brought down the helicopter safely. I went from being the most senior member on board to the weakest. I could easily have died that day, but my crew wouldn’t give up on me. They pulled me from the disabled aircraft and, when help arrived, insisted I be attended to first even though some of them were also seriously injured.

That day, and so many others when I served, illustrated the two most important lessons the military taught me: Never leave anyone behind— not on the battlefield and not in our country. And never put a service member in harm’s way without understanding the cost—the very real and very human cost—of war. That’s why I committed my time at the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs and at the federal VA, as well as my time in Congress, to making sure that veterans have the opportunity to achieve that American dream that they defended for the rest of us.

That day, I lost both of my legs, but I was given a second chance at life. It’s a feeling that has helped to drive me in my second chance at service—no one should be left behind, and every American deserves another chance. These two lessons inform everything I do in Congress —every minute of every day, whether discussing how best to defeat the Islamic State or debating the merits of a trade deal or trying to figure out how to provide traveling moms with a clean, safe place at airports to breast-feed their babies.

You don’t have to suffer war injuries to understand how tough life can be. The military has a great support network—hundreds of people helped save me, heal me and move me on with my life. Not everyone can count on help like that when tragedy strikes their families, their health or their careers; the recent recession has been devastating for many families. The least I can do as an elected official is to try to make sure working families are not left behind and to offer them help through benefits like education and a higher minimum wage.

Duckworth attends a Veteran’s Day ceremony after being elected to Congress in 2016.

As for war, families like mine, with fathers and brothers and sisters and mothers in the service, are always the first to bleed. We will serve and serve proudly. We will go wherever the country needs us. I am not a dove. I believe strongly that if the country’s national security interests dictate that we put boots on the ground, then let’s do it and be aware of the true costs, both economic and human. I’m also not a reckless hawk, with scant appreciation for what the men and women in uniform—and their families—sacrifice every single day to keep the rest of us safe.

Tammy Duckworth’s essay is powerful all the way through, but wow, what an ending! Closing sentences are tremendously important. When it’s time to write one yourself, check out pp. 707–09 for some good tips.

Our efforts in Iraq cost our economy more than a trillion dollars, and we will be caring for our Iraq and Afghanistan veterans for at least the next 50 years. The next time we go to war, we should truly understand the sacrifices that our service members and the American people will have to make. Which is why, when my colleagues start beating the drums of war, I want to be there, standing on my artificial legs under the great Capitol dome, to remind them what the true costs of war are.