Duckworth, Tammy

Ladda Tammy Duckworth became Assistant Secretary of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs for the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs in April 2009. Her responsibilities in this position include departmental [Page 431]communications and overseeing programs relating to intergovernmental relations, homeless veterans, consumer affairs, and national rehabilitative special event programs.

An Iraq War veteran, Duckworth achieved the rank of Major in the Illinois National Guard, and is a former Army Aviator whose Black Hawk helicopter was hit by an Iraqi rocket propelled grenade in 2004. As a result of that insurgent attack, she is a double amputee who lost both legs and sustained severe injury to her right arm.

Duckworth was born in Bangkok, Thailand, in 1968. She comes from a military family. Her father was a U.S. Marine ...