WASHINGTON » As Tammy Duckworth sees it, her path to Congress began when she awoke in the fall of 2004 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. She was missing both of her legs and faced the prospect of losing her right arm.

Months of agonizing therapy lay ahead. As the highest-ranking double amputee in the ward, Maj. Duckworth became the go-to person for soldiers complaining of substandard care and bureaucratic ambivalence.

Soon, the McKinley High School and University of Hawaii graduate was pleading their cases to federal lawmakers, including her state’s two U.S. senators at the time: Demo­crats Dick Durbin and Barack Obama of Illinois. Obama arranged for her to testify at congressional hearings. Durbin encouraged her to run for office.

She lost her first election, but six years later gave it another try and now is one of nine veterans of the Iraq and Af­ghani­stan wars who will serve in next year’s freshman class in the House of Representatives.

Veterans groups say the influx of Iraq and Af­ghani­stan veterans is welcome because it comes as the overall number of veterans in Congress is on a steep and steady decline. In the mid-1970s the vast majority of lawmakers tended to be veterans.

For example, the 95th Congress, which served in 1977-78, had more than 400 veterans among its 535 members, according to the American Legion. The number of veterans next year in Congress will come to just more than 100. Most served during the Vietnam War era. In all, 16 served in Iraq or Af­ghani­stan, not all in a combat role.

"We’re losing about a half a million veterans a year in this country," said Tom Tarantino, chief policy officer at Iraq and Af­ghani­stan Veterans for America. "We are not going to be in a world where a significant plurality of people spent some time in the military, so to have 16 men and women who fought in this current Congress is incredibly significant."

Tarantino said he recognizes that the 16 Iraq and Af­ghani­stan vets have wide-ranging political views. But at the end of the day, he said, their shared experiences make it more likely they’ll put political differences aside on issues like high unemployment and suicide rates among returning veterans, or in ensuring that veterans get a quality education through the post-Sept. 11, 2001, GI bill.

Their election victories also provide a sense of assurance to veterans.

"The biggest fear we have as veterans is that the American people are going to forget us," Tarantino said. "When you have an 11-year sustained war, the fight doesn’t end when you pull out."

Duckworth carries the highest profile of the incoming vets. She was co-piloting a Black Hawk helicopter in Iraq when a rocket-propelled grenade landed in her lap, ripping off one leg and crushing the other. At Walter Reed she worried about what life as a double amputee had in store. But during her recovery she found a new mission: taking care of those she describes as her military brothers and sisters. That mission led her to a job as an assistant secretary at the Department of Veterans Affairs during Obama’s first term.

"Had I not been in combat, my life would have never taken this path. You take the path that comes in front of you," Duckworth said from a wheelchair last week as she and her fellow freshmen went through orientation at the Capitol. "For me, I try to live every day honoring the men who carried me out of that field because they could have left me behind, and they didn’t."

Duckworth is one of two freshmen Demo­crats who served in Iraq or Af­ghani­stan. The other is Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, who served near Baghdad for a year and was a medical operations specialist. Gabbard said she hopes the two of them can be a voice for female veterans and the unique challenges they face.

Seven Republicans served in Iraq or Af­ghani­stan. Most had backing from tea party supporters who share their views that the size and scope of the federal government should be curtailed.