Vet highlights women in combat, military health care

Vet highlights women in combat, military health care
Newsday - Long Island,NY,USA

BY ZACHARY R. DOWDY | zachary.dowdy@newsday.com
8:13 PM EST, November 11, 2008
Iraq War veteran Tammy Duckworth stood alongside President-elect Barack Obama for a Veterans Day observance at a memorial in Illinois Tuesday and saluted those who fought beside her and died - men and women who weren't as lucky as she was.

Duckworth, 40, who in 2004 lost both of her legs and partial use of an arm during the conflict, had flown combat missions as a Black Hawk helicopter pilot. The decorated soldier, who spent 13 months recuperating at Walter Reed hospital in Washington, D.C., received the Purple Heart and the Air Medal for her service.

A major in the Illinois National Guard, she had flown the fighter plane for more than 200 combat hours before a grenade exploded in her cockpit. She told The Associated Press that her experience is an example of women's increased exposure to military combat.

"The American public is beginning to realize that women are playing an equal part in this war and that they are facing the same risks," she said.
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