Background
Rhonda Cornum was born on October 31, 1954, in Dayton, Ohio, United States.
Cornum graduated from Cornell University with a B.S. degree in microbiology and genetics in 1975. Cornum went on to earn a Ph.D. in nutrition and biochemistry in 1980.
Bethesda, Maryland, United States
Cornum entered the military's Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in 1982.
Cornum graduated from Cornell University with a B.S. degree in microbiology and genetics in 1975. Cornum went on to earn a Ph.D. in nutrition and biochemistry in 1980.
Cornum graduated from the USAF Air Command and Staff College in June 1992 and completed a residency in urology.
Cornum graduated from Cornell University with a B.S. degree in microbiology and genetics in 1975. Cornum went on to earn a Ph.D. in nutrition and biochemistry in 1980.
Bethesda, Maryland, United States
Cornum entered the military's Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in 1982.
Cornum graduated from the USAF Air Command and Staff College in June 1992 and completed a residency in urology.
Former prisoner of war Maj. Rhonda Lee Cornum, a flight surgeon assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 229th Aviation Brigade, sits next to U.S. Army Col. Richard Williams on a C-141B Starlifter transport aircraft after her release by the Iraqi government during Operation Desert Storm.
Gulf War Iraqi-held POWs incl. (R-L) Fox, Cornum, Acree & Hunter, among 21 celebrating their freedom in POWS welcome home ceremony at Andrews AFB.
https://www.amazon.com/She-Went-War-Rhonda-Cornum/dp/0891414630/?tag=2022091-20
1992
Rhonda Cornum was born on October 31, 1954, in Dayton, Ohio, United States.
Cornum graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Science degree in microbiology and genetics in 1975. Cornum went on to earn a Ph.D. in nutrition and biochemistry in 1980, also from Cornell. Cornum entered the military's Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland, in 1982.
Cornum graduated from the USAF Air Command and Staff College in June 1992 and completed a residency in urology.
In 2003 she graduated from National War College.
Rhonda joined the army after being recruited at a medical conference in Atlantic City. After her first assignment at Letterman Army Institute of Research, Cornum entered the military's Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland, in 1982. After graduating from medical school on 17 May 1986, Rhonda Cornum held a variety of assignments, including an internship in general surgery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and chief of the Physical Exam Section at Lyster Hospital, Fort Rucker, where she was named Fort Rucker's Flight Surgeon of the Year in 1988 and Flight Surgeon of the Year for the army in 1990. She was working in the Biomedical Applications Research Division at the United States Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory, Fort Rucker, when she deployed to Saudi Arabia in August 1990.
In Saudi Arabia thirty-six-year-old Major Cornum served as a flight surgeon to the 2-229th Attack Helicopter Battalion, which was attached to the 101st Airborne Division. She says that she put up a sign in her aid-station tent reading, "Suffering Is Stupid, but Whining Is Worse," which was one of her philosophies of life. During the long months of waiting in Saudi Arabia another woman officer had suggested that separate women's quarters be established on the base.
On 27 February 1991, the last day of the four-day ground war in the Persian Gulf, Major Cornum and seven crew members were sent on a Blackhawk helicopter mission to rescue a downed and injured air force pilot from behind enemy lines. About thirty minutes into the flight the helicopter received ground fire from Iraqi antiaircraft guns and crashed in the desert, killing both pilots, one of the door gunners, and two infantrymen. Cornum and two others survived. Cornum was badly injured, with two broken arms, torn ligaments in her right knee, and a bullet wound in the shoulder. She and the other survivors were quickly taken prisoner by Iraqi soldiers. On her first night of captivity, Cornum was sexually abused (though not raped) by an Iraqi guard.
Other guards treated her with relative consideration, although medical care was minimal. When she finally was taken to a hospital, the medical staff treated her well. Cornum and her fellow prisoners were released on 6 March 1991, after eight days of captivity. During the release process, she met fellow POW Captain Bill Andrews, the air force pilot her crew had tried to rescue.
Rhonda Cornum was the only female officer to become a prisoner of war during the Persian Gulf War. In 1992 she wrote an autobiography 'She Went to War' which told the story of her experience, was selected by the New York Times as one of the most notable books of the year and was placed on recommended reading lists such as that of the Commandant of the United States Marine Corps.
In 1992 Cornum testified before a presidential commission in support of allowing women to serve in combat positions. The air combat roles for women in the U.S. military were expanded a short time later. Some people felt that Cornum's courageous conduct as a POW in Iraq helped change the views of U.S. leaders.
Quotations:
"I did not want to be a physician when I was a kid. I had thought about being a veterinarian, and then the truth is, I didn't think I'd get in to med school. And I really wanted to do research anyway- that was my ultimate goal after college. I wanted to do research for a living and I decided I could do that equally well, and probably better, in fact, for the Ph.D. So I was at Cornell and just stayed there, to get my Ph.D. It was really wanting to do clinical research, human research, that made me decide to go to medical school. I was doing clinical research. We did blood preservation and we did blood amplification. Treating blood so it delivers more oxygen than regular blood. But I wanted to be able to do the clinical trials, and I wanted to be able to do that as the head of something, and I thought I would be better at it. Also, I liked the army, and I thought my career path would be more interesting if I was in the medical corps. I was currently in the medical service corps. So I decided I'd go to medical school. Now I have to say, it was very fortunate for me, and serendipitously happy, that I really liked medicine. I liked taking care of patients. But I didn't know I would until I got there."
"You shouldn't think of yourself as a female colonel. You should think of yourself as a colonel who just happens to be a woman... I guess if I'm a crusader for anything, its equal opportunity for everybody."
Rhonda Cornum sits on numerous committees and advisory boards, including the Secretary’s POW Advisory Committee for the VA, the External Advisory Board for the Millennium Cohort Study, and is a Professor of Military and Emergency Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Dr. Cornum is Board certified in Urology, a Fellow in both the American College of Surgeons and the Aerospace Medical Association, and is a member of the American Society of Nutrition.
Despite occasional frustration, Cornum loves the opportunities and challenges presented by her military career.
While attending medical school, Cornum met and married air force officer Kory Cornum in 1983, and together with the two trained as flight surgeons, learning to fly helicopters. They had a daughter, Regan.
