If I still had my legs, I would be in line for a battalion command, and instead, I'm flying a desk.
Tammy DuckworthRead
Female service members are so integrated into the military, so critical and vital to all functions of the military, from combat service support to combat support, to direct combat, that we could not go to war as a nation - we could not defend America - without our women.
Interpretation
Women are essential to the military's effectiveness and national defense.
This quote highlights the indispensable role that female service members play in the military, emphasizing that their contribution spans across various functions, including combat and support roles. It asserts that the nation’s ability to defend itself is intricately linked to the integration and capabilities of women within its armed forces.
In practice
In a speech at a veteran's event highlighting women's contributions to the armed forces.
If I still had my legs, I would be in line for a battalion command, and instead, I'm flying a desk.
It was the combination of hard work and a hand up that allowed me to become one of the first women to fly in combat missions and achieve my American Dream.
I went to Iraq in 2004 because I believe in doing my duty, not because I agreed with the war.
The women putting their lives at risk for our country deserve better than to be treated as second-class citizens.
The wheelchair and the prosthesis give me a soapbox to stand on. If it helps me get my message across, I'm glad; then we need to talk about what we need to do for this country.
As I recovered at Walter Reed, I worried about the soldiers who pulled me out of my helicopter that Friday afternoon. Would they make it back okay? And what about all the other soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen who were also putting their lives on the line every day?
Inspiring conduct has so much more of an impact than coercing it.
With all the power that a president has, the most important thing to bear in mind is this: You must not give power to a man unless, above everything else, he has character. Character is the most important qualification the president of the United States can have.
I only met Margaret Thatcher twice. The thing that I thought about meeting her was how extraordinarily intelligent she was. You really had to be on your game otherwise she'd make mincemeat of you.
I tell young players who want to be coaches, who think they can put up with all the headaches and heartaches, can you live without it? If you can live without it, don't get in it.
Leaders shouldn?t attach moral significance to their ideas: Do that, and you can?t compromise.
In peace-armies discipline meant the hunt, not of an average but of an absolute; the hundred per cent standard in which the ninety-nine were played down to the level of the weakest man on parade.... The deeper the discipline, the lower was the individual excellence; also the more sure the performance.
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