Female service members are so integrated into the military, so

Hear the words of Tammy Duckworth, warrior, survivor, and servant of the people: “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.” These words rise like a trumpet blast, calling us to recognize the courage of women who have stood shoulder to shoulder with men on the fields of war. They are not tokens, nor exceptions, but pillars without which the structure of defense would collapse.

The origin of this statement flows from Duckworth’s own life. A U.S. Army helicopter pilot during the Iraq War, she lost both her legs and partial use of her arm when her Black Hawk was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade. Her sacrifice was not unique, but part of the long and often overlooked story of women in arms. From the nurses who bled alongside soldiers in field hospitals to the pilots, mechanics, and infantrywomen of modern battlefields, female service members have been essential to the defense of nations. Duckworth speaks not from theory, but from blood and fire.

The meaning of her words is this: the myth that war is the realm of men alone is a falsehood long shattered by reality. Women are not auxiliaries—they are critical and vital in every sphere of the military. They repair machines, plan strategies, treat the wounded, and fight with weapons in hand. The old divisions—combat support, combat service support, direct combat—have all been breached by women who proved, time and again, that courage has no gender. Duckworth’s declaration is not flattery, but testimony: without women, the nation cannot fight, cannot defend, cannot endure.

Consider the story of Army Specialist Monica Brown, who, during the war in Afghanistan, shielded wounded comrades with her own body while mortar rounds rained upon them. For her valor, she received the Silver Star, one of the nation’s highest military honors. Her story is but one among thousands, yet it reveals the truth Duckworth proclaimed: women are not on the margins of war, they are at its very heart.

Yet this truth has often been resisted. For centuries, societies have spoken of women only as symbols of the homeland to be protected, not as defenders themselves. Duckworth’s words shatter that old illusion, reminding us that in modern war, no nation can prevail without the full measure of its people, men and women alike. The battlefield, like the homeland, is defended by all. The integration of women is not charity—it is necessity.

The lesson for us is clear: honor must not be confined by tradition or prejudice. To ignore or diminish the role of women in the military is to deny reality and to weaken the nation’s strength. We must not only recognize their presence but ensure their equality: in training, in leadership, in respect, and in care after service. For those who give their lives or their limbs deserve not second-class remembrance, but equal honor.

What, then, must we do? We must tell their stories, so that their sacrifices are not forgotten. We must support them in service and in return to civilian life, ensuring that veterans’ care does not neglect the unique burdens borne by women. And we must teach the next generation that courage is not bound by gender, but by the will to serve and the readiness to sacrifice.

Therefore, let Duckworth’s words be remembered as both tribute and charge. Let us proclaim with her that we could not defend America without our women, and let us ensure that this truth is lived in action as well as in speech. For in the unity of men and women, standing together in defense of freedom, lies the true strength of a nation.