The Miss USA pageant took place this past weekend and the winner has created quite a lot of talk over her fabulous answer to the night’s questions. The winner was Deshauna Barber, a 26-year-old woman from the District of Colombia who was formerly an Army Reserve Officer and IT analyst, according to CNN.
That in itself is a barrier-breaking stereotype. When people think of pageants they usually think vapid, materialistic, hedonistic, and ditzy. None of those characteristics can be used to describe Miss USA.
Judge Joe Zee asked Ms. Barber about the Pentagon opening up combat positions to women, if it was putting “political correctness over our military’s ability to perform.” Her response was seamless.
“As a woman in the United States Army, I think it was an amazing job by our government to allow women to integrate into every branch of the military … We are just as tough as men. As a commander of my unit, I’m powerful, I am dedicated and it is important that we recognize that gender does not limit us in the United States.”
The Miss USA competition was held at the T-Mobile arena near the Las Vegas, Nevada, strip. Miss USA will go on to compete in the Miss Universe contest. Barber is the first female military member to have ever won the Miss USA title.
Barber mentioned if she won the contest she would take a break from the Army Reserves, a decision she’s previously discussed with superiors. She currently serves two days a month of service and plans on possibly going inactive for a few years, according to the Associated Press.
“My commander should be watching right now … Two days a month is definitely not active duty. It is an obligation that I signed up for but they are very flexible in the United States Army Reserves.”
Ms. Barber plans on using the public attention from the pageant to bring awareness to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and suicide prevention for military veterans, as well as other issues that affect them.
During the pageant, when answering a question about what issues presidential candidates should focus more on, Ms. Barber honed in on veterans’ problems and the backlog that hospitals face in serving veterans.
Watch Deshauna Barber give her answer here:
Featured Image: Screenshot Of Newsy Video Via YouTube.
