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After graduating as an American Studies major, Air Force Captain Heidi Caruso Commins ’94 never imagined that she would end up in Afghanistan as the flight surgeon for deployed Air Force personnel. “My grandfather was a pilot in the Air Force, and he gave me information about a scholarship that would pay for medical school,” says Commins. She attended Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine with the scholarship, and in 2001, began serving a minimum of three years’ active duty.
Commins spent four months last year in Afghanistan at Bagram Air Base, providing medical care for pilots, navigators, and air traffic controllers in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. “I was the only doctor there for the Air Force compound. I ran a small clinic about the size of a closet with two medical technicians,” says Commins. “Luckily, there was a larger Army hospital down the road we could utilize if needed.”
“I went out on a humanitarian mission, and the severe poverty of the country struck me. It’s a desolate country with minimal farming capabilities, because it’s desert. It was like nothing you could see in the United States.”
Commins had to work with limited resources that did not include running water. “You had to be creative, not just when treating patients, but in everyday life as well,” she says.
Commins first learned to adapt at Lafayette, where she starred in soccer and basketball. “College is where you gain your independence; you learn to live on your own and to make do with what you have.”
She will receive a medal for her service in Afghanistan. Commins plans to complete her residency in emergency medicine, although she has not decided whether it will be at a civilian or military hospital. She and her husband John, an Air Force pilot, are stationed at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Ariz. Holder of five Lafayette women’s soccer records and a member of the Maroon Club Hall of Fame and Patriot League Women’s Soccer All-Decade Team for the 1990s, Commins competes in the Women’s Premier Soccer League.