Twice the Public Servant

Sheri Biggs, R-S.C., has treated scores of people during her more than three decades in health care, but one patient stands out.

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Biggs deployed to the Middle East in 2018 as a nurse with the Mississippi Air National Guard’s 183rd Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, part of the 172nd Airlift Wing. While overseas, she encountered a Soldier who had been sedated and strapped to a litter after suffering a mental breakdown.

The young man had “a different effect” on Biggs than other patients, she says, because he reminded her that he was someone’s son.

“But when I looked at him, I didn’t see a service member, I didn’t see a patient,” Biggs says. “To me, that was somebody’s child.”

She says her deployment experience helped prepare her for the rigors of her first year on Capitol Hill. She was elected to U.S. House of Representatives on Nov. 5, 2024, to represent South Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District.

Biggs succeeded Republican Rep. Jeff Duncan, who retired after seven terms. She is one of two drilling Guardsmen in the House. The other is Rep. William Timmons, a South Carolina Air Guard captain, who represents the state’s 4th Congressional District.

“You learn to work with people from different backgrounds that have different experiences, different beliefs,” she says of deploying with the Air Guard. “But at the end of the day, you have a mission to be successful in and to accomplish things you set out to do.

“It is meshing different personalities and just being able to take care of our service members and get them to a higher echelon of care and do the right thing,” Biggs adds.

Biggs is currently a lieutenant colonel in the Air Guard, serving with the Mississippi National Guard Joint Force Headquarters in Jackson, Mississippi. She is originally from the Magnolia State.

In 2018, Biggs served as the medical crew director of a five-person team during the 183rd AES’ deployment. The squadron transports injured or wounded service members in war or peace. It was stationed in Qatar but flew missions in and out of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates in support of Operation Freedom’s Sentinel.

She also served as the squadron’s flight commander. Biggs’ crew began calling her “Mama Biggs” during their deployment, she says, perhaps because she was a “little bossy” and “kept them all in shape.” It was fitting for other reasons: She was also a little older than the rest of the crew, having joined the military at age 40, and was a mother.

Today, a patch with the nickname sits in a frame in Biggs’ congressional office as a memento of the deployment.

“You know, it is one thing to be in a hospital in a controlled setting with all your equipment, but it is another thing to be training and working or in a deployed environment in the back of a plane,” Biggs says. “It was something that I never took for granted. It pushed me out of my comfort zone.”

After returning home to Anderson, South Carolina, she assisted local veterans, first responders and law enforcement through nonprofits. The work leveraged Biggs’ background before joining the Guard as a critical-care nurse. It eventually convinced her to seek elected office.

“I just saw the need,” she says. “We were broken physically, mentally and spiritually, and it’s awfully close to bringing our nation to its knees.”

“I had no idea what I was going to run for,” Biggs continues. “I didn’t know if it was on the local level, the state level, but here I am in Congress. I think people in my district knew that I genuinely wanted to serve.”

Biggs brings a rare blend of civilian and military expertise to Congress. As a civilian, she holds a Doctor of Advanced Nursing practice from Samford University in Homewood, Alabama. She also has board certifications as a family practitioner and a psychiatric mental health professional. She is also a licensed nursing home administrator and worked for Mississippi’s Veterans’ Affairs board before moving to South Carolina.

On the military side, she recently finished an advanced education curriculum at the Air War College in Montgomery, Alabama, and is a recipient of the Air Force’s Aerial Achievement Medal.

“It is important for our members to have what they need — have access to health care, have access to mental health help,” Biggs says of her priorities in Congress. “And, for those members that are serving, to actually have the skills and the training and the resources that they need to accomplish the mission and to be successful personally and professionally.”

In the 119th Congress, Biggs serves as a member of the House Foreign Affairs, Homeland Security and Science, Space, and Technology committees. She also has a “great mentor” in Rep. Trent Kelly, R-Miss., a recently retired Mississippi Army Guard major general and co-chair of the House National Guard and Reserve Caucus.

I know how critical it is for our military to have the support of our Congress and our president.

—Rep. Sheri Biggs, R-S.C.

“I think I have a front-row seat to the challenges,” Biggs says of her Guard background. “I know the areas that we need to improve upon. And I know how critical it is for our military to have the support of our Congress and our president.”

Biggs says supporting service members’ families is another one of her goals on Capitol Hill. Her loved ones are well-suited to helping her with this objective; Biggs’ husband is an Army veteran whose entire career has focused on caring for veterans long-term. The pair have a daughter and a son, the latter of whom considered joining the Marines before getting a business degree.

“We’re a good team,” Biggs notes of her husband. “And our children are strong and independent.”

“We could never do this without a strong support system at home,” she argues of serving in the nation’s military.

How does Biggs balance her responsibilities as an Air Guard officer, lawmaker, wife, mother and more? Praying is one way, she says; serving others is another. Biggs is a member of the Temple Baptist Church in Anderson, South Carolina, and provides counseling there.

“I think just being passionate about what you’re doing and believing in something bigger than yourself,” she says. “If I’m doing something for somebody else, not just myself, it makes me dig even deeper and work even harder.

“To me, it is an honor to put that uniform on,” Biggs adds of serving in the Guard. “Each time I did, I accepted the responsibility.”

Mark Hensch is the former NGAUS senior writer/editor. He can be reached via [email protected].

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TOP PHOTO: Rep. Sheri Biggs, a member of the Mississippi Air Guard, awaits transportation while mobilized in 2018. (Courtesy of Rep. Sheri Biggs)

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MEMBERS OF CONGRESS WITH GUARD SERVICE

Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas
Sixth Term
Texas Army National Guard, 1969-1975

Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Mich.
First Term
Michigan Army National Guard, 2000-2022

Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Mich.*
Fifth Term
Rhode Island Army National Guard, 1975-1978

Rep. Sheri Biggs, R-S.C.
First Term
Mississippi Air National Guard

Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla.
10th Term
Michigan Air National Guard, 1970-1976

Rep. Mike Carey, R-Ohio
Third Term
Ohio Army National Guard, 1989-1999

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill.*
Second Term
Illinois Army National Guard, 1996-2014

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa*
Second Term
Iowa Army National Guard, 2001-2015

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.**
Fourth Term
South Carolina Air National Guard, 1989-1995

Rep. Trent Kelly, R-Miss.*
Sixth Term
Mississippi Army National Guard, 1985-2025

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla.
Second Term
Oregon Air National Guard, 2017-2018

Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala.
Third Term
Alabama Army National Guard, 1986-1992

Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas
Third Term
Texas Army National Guard, 1995-2001
Wisconsin Army National Guard, 1988-1995

Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa
Second Term
Iowa Air National Guard, 2014-2022

Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa.
Seventh Term
Pennsylvania Army National Guard, 1980-2019

Rep. Harold Rogers, R-Ky.**
23rd term
Kentucky Army National Guard, 1956-1957, 1958-1963
North Carolina Army National Guard, 1957-1958

Rep. Robert C. Scott, D-Va.
17th term
Massachusetts Army National Guard, 1970-1974

Rep. William Timmons, R-S.C.
Fourth Term
South Carolina Air National Guard, 2018-present (captain)

Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C.*
13th Term
South Carolina Army National Guard, 1975-2003

Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark.**
Eighth Term
Arkansas Army National Guard, 1979-2009

Note: Names in bold are current National Guardsmen.

*Denotes member of the House or Senate Armed Services Committee
**Denotes member of the House or Senate Appropriations Committee