Every Day Is a Gift
A Memoir
by Tammy Duckworth


(Click for Amazon book review)

BOOK REVIEW by OnTheIssues.org:

Every Day is a Gift is an often moving, sometimes funny memoir by Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth who is identified on the cover as "Soldier, Senator, Mother." She has an incredible story to tell and as Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg blurbs on the dust jacket it "reads like a novel." (Duckworth credits her "collaborator" Lisa Dickey in the acknowledgements but has the sole byline.)

What most people know about Duckworth is that she lost both her legs after the helicopter she was piloting in Iraq got shot down, which is why her story up until that point is so revealing. She spent much of her childhood in Southeast Asia, daughter of an American father and Thai mother. When he took them to Hawaii, they struggled to survive, with Duckworth noting that the subsidized meals she got at school made the difference for her in being able to succeed and graduate.

Later she joined the Army where she thrived, noting she fell hard for Army life by her third week of basic training. She goes into some detail about her training, including the advice to learn how to pilot the Black Hawk helicopter as that was the future of the Army. It was during her later recovery at Walter Reed Army Hospital that she got to meet a number of political and entertainment celebrities. She noted the "wounded warriors" could always tell who was there to provide support, people like Senator Dick Durbin and then comedian Al Franken, and who was there just for a photo op. She declines to name the latter. She does relate that several of the soldiers told Franken to stop saying, "Thank you for your service," which seemed a rote sentiment devoid of meaning. So Franken said, "Thank you for being grievously wounded." According to Duckworth, this got a big laugh. [p. 171]

She was recruited by Durbin to run for Congress, making it on her second try, and subsequently got elected to the Senate where she continues to fight for veterans, as when the Trump Administration proposed ending National Guard service during the pandemic one day short of when certain benefits would kick in. When she became pregnant with her younger daughter she worked with Amy Klobuchar (then ranking member of the Senate Rules Committee) to allow babies on the floor of the Senate. Orrin Hatch was aghast. "What if there are ten babies on the floor of the Senate?" he asked. "That would be wonderful and a delight," answered Klobuchar. [p. 264]

The book succeeds in showing what makes Duckworth tick, and what motivates her to keep on going.

-- Daniel M. Kimmel, editor, OnTheIssues.org, May 2021

OnTheIssues.org excerpts:  (click on issues for details)

Families & Children     Tammy Duckworth: Got rules changed to allow her baby on the Senate floor.

Homeland Security     Richard Durbin: Became unofficial ombudsman for wounded warriors.     Tammy Duckworth: Urged Pentagon to design body armor that worked for women.     Tammy Duckworth: Fought for National Guard benefits during pandemic.     Tammy Duckworth: Basic Training taught her that the Army is pure meritocracy.

Principles & Values     Tammy Duckworth: After amputation had one goal, to fly again for the Army.     Tammy Duckworth: Being biracial in Thailand was complicated.     Tammy Duckworth: My military service is key to understanding who I am.

Welfare & Poverty     Tammy Duckworth: Subsidized school meals enable me to get high school diploma.

Click for quotations from other sources by: Richard Durbin Democratic Sr Senator Illinois Tammy Duckworth Democratic Senate candidate Illinois