Book Review

Every Day is a Gift by Senator Tammy Duckworth

Reviewed by LCDR Chip Lancaster, USN (Ret.)

“ If you asked me today how I would describe myself, the first words out of my mouth would be Soldier and Helicopter Pilot. Flying for the Army was more than the best job I ever had; it became my identity. It’s who I am.”

She is Tammy, and yes, I feel that I can use that familiarity with her even though she is a United States Senator. After reading her book, one is so into understanding her, that she is like a member of your family or the copilot sitting next to you. Her remarkable story is told in three parts. Part One is her story growing up. Part Two is her Army training, operations, and recovery. Part Three overlaps with Part Two taking her recovery into her family life and political career.

Her formative years before high school are spent in Thailand, Cambodia, Singapore, and Malayasia largely in gated communities but where she can see outside, witnessing the turmoil and angst U.S. laws had on the Amerasian Community. Her family reaches Hawaii for her high school years. There they live in poverty, on food stamps and school subsidized meals, scrounging for coins on the street until family drama forces her to go against her dad. She gets a job to support the family passing out flyers to tourists, selling street corner roses, and hustling beach volleyball. She postcards her mom who finally arrives to take charge and get the family back on track. Her dad gets a job in Virginia and moves the family there for her college years. In her later adult years, she would become a staunch advocate of the poor, Veteran’s issues, and public schools based on her experiences in Hawaii.

In Virginia, they settle in the DC area where she enrolls at George Washington University to get a Master’s Degree and Army ROTC at Georgetown University. She gets jobs with the U.S. Naval Institute and with the Smithsonian, although not at the same time. Her goal is to work in civil service for the State Department. Her ROTC takes her to summer basic training in Kentucky where, in three weeks, she is sold on joining the Army. In basic, she learns about Army aviation, the Rifleman’s Creed and meets her future husband, Bryan. She finishes her Masters, joins the Army Reserves, and the couple move to Dekalb, Illinois where she has been accepted for the PhD Program at Northern Illinois University.

In Dekalb, she is also accepted for Army aviation and her reserve unit sponsors her for flight school. At Fort Rucker, she finds out that she cannot get a Cobra slot since the Army does not allow women combat pilots yet. She can, however, get a Black Hawk slot so she faces off with the Sergeant Major who will only give it to her if she finishes number one in her class. She gets the highest grades in all of the systems classes and simulator training, also winning the respect and admiration of her class leader, a Desert Storm tank commander combat veteran. She gets the Black Hawk slot and absolutely loves flying them. In her words, flying the H-60 “was about strapping the bird onto my back and being in control of a ferocious, unforgiving machine. A machine that looks like it shouldn’t be able to fly. I love the head-banging heavy metal of it. That’s why I’m a helicopter pilot.” She marries Bryan after flight school and settles into her PhD Program while flying with Illinois National Guard Units.

She makes deployments in the late 90’s to Egypt, Guyana, and Iceland performing NATO and humanitarian missions. Following 9/11, her unit gets called up for Iraq in 2003. She’s in Iraq for 8 months as an aviation operations planner, but getting stick-time with different units. We see her sense of humor with descriptions of the plight of women’s underwear which the Army has not figured out yet, and dealing with bodily necessities in a flight suit, “to pee or not to pee,” so mostly you don’t. The day of her shootdown starts out like any other piece of cake logrun with her fortunate to get right seat stick-time. Events take a vicious turn when, out of nowhere, they’re hit with an RPG. Her shootdown is described in graphically vivid second-by-second detail. I’ll not get into it here, suffice to say that I felt every second, exacerbated by my own time in the cockpit. Her injuries are so severe that everyone thinks she is dead, but they’re not leaving her body, “never leave a fallen comrade behind.” Three of the crew of four are severely wounded. Fortunately, they are accompanied by another 60 which flies them to their base in Taji where they are medevaced to the surgical unit in Baghdad within the critical golden hour following the shootdown.

Doing what they can in Baghdad, Tammy is then transferred in an airborne ICU to Landstuhl to Andrews to Walter Reed in less than 72 hours following the shootdown. She won’t wake up for another eight days while the wonders of modern medicine help her through, keeping her alive. She awakes in a wall of excruciating pain with Bryan and her mom by her side. Her recovery is long, long and painful but brightened by other recovering female amputees as well as the Sex-Talk and Cookies Couple (you’re just going to have to get the book), the Milkshake Man, and a host of celebrities both good and not so good. Good ones like Gary Sinise, Adam Sandler, and Al Franken, and the not so good to be left nameless for now.

If you have been through any rehab, multiply it by a factor of a thousand to even have an inkling of what Tammy had to go through. Her driving goal is to get back to Army Pilot flight status; a long shot, but not out of sight, others had done it. She’s given prosthetic legs, both every day functional titanium and formal realistic ones. Her sense of humor kicks in again when she describes her formal feet as the size of boats, clearly the Army dropped the ball on female body parts as well as underwear and flight suits.

While in rehab she also has to deal with her dad’s illness and death adding to the stress of recovery. She gets Army H-60 simulator time, mastering all of the systems, procedures and maneuvers before finally realizing that her Army Pilot flight status is not going to happen. Although she can manage the simulator, and probably the actual aircraft, she could never be a dependable crew member with her disabilities. The realization hit her like a hammer, another thing to recover from. After her first Alive Day (Google it) one year after her shootdown, she channels her energy and determination to being an advocate for disabled vets, ultimately running for Congress.

That’s two thirds of the story. You will have to get the book to find out about her congressional career, having babies, and becoming the firebrand advocate for the poor, women, IVF (in vitro fertilization), and veterans. What I have covered only scratches the surface, not telling of her personal issues with her family, the Army, and medical service for women and Vets. Tammy Duckworth’s memoir is an open and frank accounting of her life focused on a catastrophic event and recovery that pulls no punches and will leave you emotionally drained, yet inspired. She takes you first-hand through every phase of her life and experience in a clearly written style, liberally sprinkled with her sense of humor. When you turn the last page, you will leave the book knowing Tammy Duckworth. I give it five stars and two thumbs up. Get it, read it; you will not be disappointed.