Cummings spent eleven years (1988–1999) as a naval officer and military pilot, earning the rank of lieutenant, and was one of the Navy's first female fighter pilots, flying an F/A-18 Hornet. She became a fighter pilot shortly after the Combat Exclusion Policy was repealed in 1993, and her self-published book, "Hornet's Nest and her second was "Shrew". In an interview on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" she described her callsign as "Awesome - I am so Kate from "The Taming of the Shrew"".