News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: Desert Storm Ex-POW Speaks Out

Date: November 23, 2000

"Woman POW seeks equality in military
By J.S. Newton Staff writer

Col. Rhonda Cornum said the policy that excludes women from combat is unfair, because it deprives them of a chance to prove themselves.

‘‘If you are a woman, you can get killed, captured or injured. You just can’t fight,’’ she told a crowd Tuesday at the Fort Bragg Officers’ Club during the 12th Annual Cumberland County Salute to Women in the Military luncheon.

Cornum was a prisoner of war during Operation Desert Storm. She was shot down in a helicopter and held for a week by the Iraqis. She is the current commander of the 28th Combat Support Hospital of the 44th Medical Brigade.

During her remarks on equality for women -- which she gave in front of prominent Army generals -- Cornum joked about everything from the practicality of certain military gear to the silliness of spending tax dollars to learn that women are shorter, lighter and generally less strong than their male counterparts.

‘‘The Army has spent a huge amount of money to prove that,’’ she said. ‘‘And I don’t know why, because the average kindergartner probably already knows that.”

She paraded her pistol belt around stage, standing on stairs because the podium was too tall for her, she said.

‘‘They must think we’re all the same size and shape, but it’s not true,’’ she said.

But her tiny stature did not detract from her fiery speech.

She told how, at a recent horse race at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., a filly broke the track record in the mile for male and female horses.

‘‘Nobody ever told her she was slower,’’ she said. ‘‘If she had ever been prevented from entering, she would have never have been able to set that mile.’’

Women should not fail by legal default, she said. In the military, women are prevented from serving in front-line combat positions.

‘‘People should be allowed to do what they can do,’’ she said. ‘‘Set the standards. Enforce the standards. And people will fall out where they are.’’

Cornum said she was not afraid to talk about her opinions on the sensitive Army subject, because she was telling the truth, even if generals thought the remarks were out of line.

She was applauded by a number of female soldiers and airmen, many of whom waited afterward to tell her she inspired them.

‘‘I was in the Gulf War paying a lot of attention to what was going on with her,’’ said Tech. Sgt. Elisabeth Reid, a Pope Air Force base airman. ‘‘I respect the hell out of her. They always said you can’t have a woman in combat, because she might become a prisoner of war. Well, she was a prisoner of war, and it didn’t break her. She broke ground for women.’’

Master Sgt. Tammi Fogarty, also from Pope, agreed with the colonel’s remarks.

‘‘Like she said -- we’re not all strong and fast,’’ Fogarty said. ‘‘But don’t tell me I can’t do it just because I am a woman. At least let me try.’’"