'The emotions snuck up on me': U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth recounts first trip to Iraq since being shot down in 2004

The last time she heard the whirring staccato of helicopter blades, took in the fumes from hydraulic fluid or felt the blowing dust — all at once — Tammy Duckworth was a soldier in Iraq.

As an Army pilot, Duckworth left there 15 years ago on a stretcher. She lost both legs after her Black Hawk...