Rhonda Cornum

Brigadier General Rhonda Cornum is a physician, biochemist and Director of Comprehensive Soldier Fitness for the U.S. Army. She is a senior flight surgeon, and wears the airborne, air assault, and the expert field medic badges; she was shot down, wounded, and captured on a combat search and rescue mission during the Gulf War.

Gen. Rhonda Cornum (right) with Col. Elspeth Richie (U.S. Army chief psychiatrist, 2008

The Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program includes emotional as well as physical fitness, and is one of the Army initiatives to avoid and mitigate post-traumatic and other stress disorders.

Forces Command

From her command of the largest U.S. military hospital in Europe, she became Command Surgeon of U.S. Army Forces Command (FORSCOM) in 2005, and was U.S. Army's Assistant Surgeon General for Force Projection with responsibilities including policy development, organization and overall management of the Army-wide health services system.

Field medical commands

She took command of the 28th Combat Support Hospital at Fort Bragg, with deployments as Medical Task Force Commander to Bosnia and directed subordinate units in the Afghanistan War (2001-2021). Following that assignment, she attended the National War College, and then took command of Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany. Landstuhl is the tertiary care facility for the United States European Command and for many patients from the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars.

Gulf War

For the Gulf War, she deployed as flight surgeon for the 2/229 Attack Helicopter Battalion. In February 1991, she went on a combat search and rescue, unauthorized for female personnel.

I remember the executive officer looked at me and said, 'Do you suppose the colonel knows you're a woman?' I told him, 'Well, I don't know, but if he hasn't figured it out by now, let's not tell him until the war is over,'

Her helicopter was shot down, with five soldiers killed. She suffered two broken arms and other injuries, and became an Iraqi prisoner of war (POW). While she was directed not to reveal it at the time, she later explained that she had been repeatedly sexually assaulted while in captivity, but does not consider this a bar to women serving in combat.

Everyone's made such a big deal about this indecent assault. But the only thing that makes it indecent is that it was nonconsensual. I asked myself, 'Is it going to prevent me from getting out of here? Is there a risk of death attached to it? Is it permanently disabling? Is it permanently disfiguring? Lastly, is it excruciating?' If it doesn't fit one of those five categories, then it isn't important.

Elaine Donnelly, of the Center for Military Readiness, challenged her withholding the information, suggesting she was generating publicity for her book.

Early career and research

First assigned to the Army Aeromedical Center at Fort Rucker, Ala., initially in primary care and then Chief of Aviation Medicine. In 1989, research again became her primary duty as Chief, Crew Life Support Branch at the Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory, also at Fort Rucker. While there, her interests revolved around enhancing pilot performance and use of helmet mounted displays in advanced attack helicopters.

She grew up in upstate New York. "I lived in a log cabin and had my kid at home and raised chickens and goats. I wasn't a druggie, but I wasn't exactly establishment."

Education

• Fellow, American College of Surgeons and Aerospace Medical Association
• National War College, class president, 2003
• Board certification in urology (1998)
• Air Command and Staff College (1991)
• General surgery residency, Walter Reed Army Medical Center
• M.D., Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (1986)
• Ph.D., biochemistry, Cornell University (1978)

Awards

Legion of Merit (with two oak leaf clusters), Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal (with four oak leaf clusters), Purple Heart, Air Medal