Sandra J. White Higgins (b. 1954), of Galax, Virginia, served in the United States Air Force Nurse Corps from 1977-1984 and the Air National Guard from 1988-2001. In 2001 she was deployed to Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm. She retired with the rank of Colonel. Sandra Higgins obtained her BSN (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) and, with some prior experience in mental health nursing, joined the United States Air Force in 1977.

She attended officer training school at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas, where she subsequently also worked in the mental health unit. At Sheppard, Higgins was promoted from second lieutenant to first lieutenant. While at Sheppard, Higgins met and married her husband. The two of them were then assigned to duty stations in England, with her at Lakenheath Royal Air Force Base and him at Bentwaters Royal Air Force Base. From their assignments in England, both attended squadron officers’ school in Alabama. In May of 1984, Higgins returned to the United States and left the service.

When she had been out of the service a year and a half and had her first son, Higgins’ husband also left active duty and joined a National Guard unit. Higgins received notice that in order to retain her commission, she would have to join a reserve or Guard unit, and joined the Guard unit at Willow Grove Naval Air Base as the immunizations nurse. Higgins later became the education coordinator nurse and then chief nurse in the same unit, and also spent time in Kuwait as part of Operation Desert Storm.

As she approached her twenty-year service mark, Higgins was then hired as the medical squadron commander and promoted from lieutenant colonel to full colonel. After three years in that position, she retired in August of 2001.