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U.S Army Officer crowned ‘Miss USA’

Army Strong! The boots of a soldier in the U.S. military have made their way across the stage in one of the most watched competitions in America. The one to make that walk, is Deshauna Barber, a First Lieutenant, who is on her way to being promoted to Captain as logistics commander for the 988th Quartermaster Detachment Unit in Fort Meade. 1LT Barber, an Army Reserve officer and IT analyst from the District of Columbia has been crowned Miss USA 2016 after mounting a powerful statement of women serving in combat roles in the military.

When asked by judge Joe Zee whether the Pentagon’s decision to open up all combat roles to women had “put political correctness over our military’s ability to perform,” 1st Lt. Barber responded:
“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 daughter of a retired Army master sergeant, Barber was commissioned as a quartermaster officer in 2011 and serves as a logistics commander for the 988th Quartermaster Detachment Unit at Fort Meade, Maryland, according to her bio on the pageant’s website.
She works full-time as an IT analyst for the U.S. Department of Commerce, it said. Barber hopes to use her profile as Miss USA to highlight the health issues veterans face when they return from combat, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, her bio said. She also discussed the matter in an interview with the Las Vegas Sun:

“Some of our veterans, they come back from deployment, or they go into combat, and they start dealing with those internal battles that a lot of us don’t see. My main thing is lowering the number of 22 suicides of veterans each and every day. That is my main platform in Washington, D.C., and now it’s wider on a global scale as Miss USA. I tell them that today, tomorrow, to focus on the next day and that your struggles will eventually fade away.”

She will now go on to represent the United States in the Miss Universe pageant.
Congratulations Deshauna, from one LT to another! 🙂

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