Cara’s Blog

The interviews of women veterans were a nice change of pace from the Wages of War book. I was impressed with, not only the dedication of the women I listened to, but the differences that separated them from soldiers we read about. Many of the veterans we read about, from Watkins to Kovic didn’t have any higher education. Paul Fussell was enrolled in college when he enlisted in the army, but none of these men had the exceptional schooling that Rhonda Cornum and Regina H. Schiffman had previous to their involvement in the armed forces. Rhonda Cornum had her PHD. She attended medical school to study urology and studied biochemistry during her undergrad at Cornell. She was, in fact, recruited into the army at a Biology Lecture. Regina Schiffman joined the Army Nurse Corps after working in neurosurgical nursing at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City. To attain the jobs that both these women had, serious education is required.

I was impressed by the bravery these women had. Even though they were in different wars and had different duties in those wars, they carried the same courage. As Rhonda Cornum described her capture and imprisonment in a POW camp she told her interviewer, matter-of-factly, that her plane had been shot down, and only two others onboard survived. She was only the second woman POW in the Persian Gulf War, yet she didn’t blink an eye as she described the lack of medical attention her broken limbs were given and the food they were given. Regina H. Schiffman was an army nurse, not a combat soldier, but like Ms. Cornum, she was an officer. While Cornum fought in the front lines, Schiffman cared for the heavy casualties that were brought in. Not only did this army nurse help soldiers in Korea, but she also was sent to Vietnam. This was dedication I did not see from the men we read about.