Sen. Duckworth says it was a "flashback" to visit Iraq for the first time since 2004

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) says that returning to Iraq for the first time since an RPG took both her legs and injured her arm was a bit of a "flashback" and was "disjointing."

Duckworth returned to Iraq for the first time last week since she was shot down there in 2004 during Operation Iraqi Freedom.   She visited Baghdad, Taji and Erbil along with Sens. Johnny Isakson (R-GA) and Angus King (I-ME) as part of a congressional delegation that met with top Iraqi leaders and received operational and intelligence updates from American diplomats and military commanders. But she also visited American troops. 

"It wasn't difficult," Duckworth said about going back. "I was wanting to go back."

But loading into a chopper in Baghdad for the first time since 2004, she says, the "sights, sounds, and smell of Baghdad" came back to her.

"It felt disjointing to sit in the back as a senator and not in the cockpit as a pilot," Duckworth told MCNBC's Andrea Mitchell.

"I really felt like a belonged with them, that I needed to be in uniform and not in civilian clothes," Duckworth said, but "it's now my job to make sure that we live up to their sacrifices and we make good decision here in Washington supporting the work that they do."

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“Fifteen years ago, I deployed to Iraq as an American Soldier to fly helicopter missions. This week, I returned in a role I never expected: as a United States Senator leading a bipartisan delegation to show our support for the people of Iraq and express our hope that Iraq will be an independent, strong country and a close ally of the United States for many years to come,” said Sen. Duckworth. “I was proud to join Senators Isakson and King representing our nation on this important trip – and I was even prouder that I was able to leave Iraq under my own power this time.”