LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Virginia –
Editor’s note: March is Women’s History Month and The Flyer is highlighting dedicated women who serve their country.
The 1st Medical Group commander and his wife share their love and a pair of doctorates across two services.
While Col. Kory Cornum commands the medical group here, his wife, Army Col. Rhonda Cornum, is the U.S. Army Forces command surgeon at Fort McPherson, Ga. She is also an extraordinary woman who demonstrates bravery and leadership.
Her most harrowing and daring experience in the Army came during the Persian Gulf conflict. As less attention was positioned on research in 1990, Colonel Cornum was appointed as a flight surgeon to the 2/229 Attack Helicopter Battalion. On Feb. 7, 1991, she received information that Air Force Capt. Bill Andrews, an F-16 pilot, had been shot down. Without hesitation, she took responsibility over the search and rescue mission; despite the fact that she was only responsible for Army Soldiers. During the search and rescue mission, her Blackhawk was shot down.
Colonel Cornum and two other male survivors were captured by Iraqi armed forces. Although she suffered from broken limbs and other injuries, Colonel Cornum’s captors repeatedly interrogated her for classified information.
Because of her courage as a prisoner of war, deliberations about women not functioning in the military were contradicted. The belief was that if a woman became a POW, she could not maintain emotional stability or strength to support herself or her unit.
Colonel Cornum exemplified that all women are capable of exercising courage and leadership. Following the testament of Colonel Cornum’s occurrence, women were offered more combat opportunities.
In 1992, she wrote a book, She Went to War: The Rhonda Cornum Story, about the detailed events that happened while she was a prisoner.
From 1991 through 1992, Colonel Cornum attended Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., where in 1993 initiated Urologic Surgery training. After commencing in 1998, she transferred to Eisenhower Army Medical Center in Augusta, Ga., and became the staff urologist and assistant DCCS.
Transferring to Fort Bragg, N.C., July 25, 2000, she became the commander of the 28th Combat Support Hospital and deployed to Bosnia as the Medical Task Force commanding officer and deployed three underling units in support of Operation Enduring Freedom to Afghanistan.
In June 2003, Colonel Cornum graduated from National War College and then took command of Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany, while aiding thousands of wounded Soldiers and war veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. She was the first woman to take command over the hospital since its activation in 1953.
During the change of command, she said, “It isn’t buildings or facilities that make Landstuhl so successful. It’s people, it’s Soldiers and civilians, clinicians and support personnel, Army and Air Force and Americans and Germans, all working together, who have formed this team and established this reputation for excellence.”