Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), a retired Army National Guard lieutenant colonel, criticized President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of Pete Hegseth for secretary of defense after he said women should not serve in combat positions in the military.
Duckworth shared that female forces play a crucial role in the military’s mission, and Hegseth’s call to bar women from these roles would be detrimental.
“I would ask [Hegseth]: Where do you think I lost my legs? In a bar fight? I’m pretty sure I was in combat when that happened.”
The senator flew combat missions as a U.S. Army helicopter pilot during the Iraq war. She lost both of her legs after her helicopter was hit by a grenade in 2004. The Purple Heart recipient said Hegseth’s comment about keeping women out of combat roles is a gray area considering the landscape of the modern battlefield.
“This is not the…
