By Hannah Wente | Photography by Hillary Schave
As a U.S. Navy nurse, Lisa Kromanaker still remembers the frustration and anticipation of injured service members wanting to return to their units. From 2006 to 2007, she tended to injured soldiers from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars at a hospital in Landstuhl, Germany.
“You have to care for them in physical, spiritual, mental and emotional ways,” explains Kromanaker. “I couldn’t believe the number of amputations I saw and how life- changing those injuries became for men and women.”
The experience left her with a deep appreciation for combat veterans and supporting their journeys home. “You come back changed. I have a whole new understanding and sympathy for combat vets — you don’t even know what they see and go through,” she says. “I understand the mental anguish they have coming back to civilian roles. It’s hard.”
Today, she gives back through two veteran-focused programs: Operation Stand Down, which supports veterans experiencing homelessness with essential resources, and Heat and Homes for Heroes, which helps cover rent and utility costs to keep veterans in their homes.
“I feel really strongly that a rich country like ours should not have homeless veterans after they wrote a blank check with their life for our country,” she says.
Kromanaker enlisted in the Navy at 18 and went through basic training, thinking she wanted to become a doctor. While training as a hospital corpsman she discovered nursing fit her personality and goals and she completed nursing school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Over a 23-year career as a nurse and commander in the Navy, she lived in reserve centers in Chicago, Memphis and Madison. Kromanaker even met her husband, Alan, in the Navy and they’ve been married for 35 years.
She recommends the military for women who know what career they want and for those who want to explore options.
“The military offers young people opportunities that might be out of their reach, and opens their eyes to a world beyond their comfort zone — which makes [us] more tolerant to differences,” says Kromanaker.
