Tammy Duckworth Headed to U.S. Veterans Affairs

T.W. Farnam reports on politics. President Barack Obama will nominate Iraq vet and fellow Illinois-resident Tammy Duckworth to serve in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs as assistant secretary of public and intergovernmental affairs, heading internal and external communications for the department. She now leads the Illinois V.A. Duckworth ran a high-profile Congressional race in 2006 but lost to Republican Peter Roskam . She is a major in the Illinois National Guard and lost both her legs and in Iraq in 2004 when insurgents hit the helicopter she was flying in with a rocket-propelled grenade. The grenade also hit part of her right arm. There was speculation that Duckworth could have been nominated for a cabinet-level post by Obama. Instead she will serve under V.A. Secretary Erik Shinseki, a former four-star general and Army chief of staff who clashed with the Bush administration over the number of troops needed in Iraq. Born in Thailand, Duckworth graduated from the University ... (link)