i am sassa

Tammy Duckworth comes from a long line of U.S. military veterans. Her family has served in every single major conflict since the Revolutionary War. Her Thai Chinese heritage from her mother’s side has called this history into question, so much so that her ancestry has been linked in several articles about her. Tammy continued her family’s service as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army Reserve, and was one of the first women to fly combat missions in the Iraq War.

Tammy has a ton of firsts as a U.S. Senator. She was the Senate’s first member born in Thailand, the first to give birth while in office, and its’ first female amputee. That last one is due to another of her firsts: she was the first female double amputee to come out of the Iraq War. The Black Hawk helicopter she was co-piloting in Iraq was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade that nearly killed her. She received the Purple Heart, the Air Medal, and the Army Commendation Medal, and retired from the Army National Guard as lieutenant colonel in 2014. She served as Director of Veteran Affairs in Illinois, creating a program that helped veterans with PTSD. She then served as Assistant Secretary of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs before running for the House of Representatives.

Clearly, this is the resume of an absolute badass. What I find equally badass about her is the fact that she seems afraid of nothing. She speaks with complete conviction, and has zero problem standing up to a bully, famously saying the following on the Senate floor:

“I spent my entire adult life looking out for the well-being, the training, the equipping of the troops for whom I was responsible,” she said. “Sadly, this is something the current occupant of the Oval Office does not seem to care to do. And I will not be lectured about what our military needs by a five-deferment draft dodger.”

Thank you, Tammy Duckworth.