G.I. Jill- From Combat Medic to Miss Utah

(army.mil)

When I was in the Army, a good rule of thumb regarding some of the female soldiers was 'if she looks good in BDUs, she can look good in anything'. Sounds sexist, but think about it- the uniform wasn't designed to be particularly alluring or flattering to the female form; it was designed to be....well, uniform.

(utvet.com)

My earlier entry about Lance Corporal Katrina Hodge being awarded the Miss England crown got me to wondering whether or not there were any beauty pageant winners in the USA who had served in the Armed Forces. As it turns out, the answer is 'yes' and I don't have to go that far back to find one.

Meet Sgt. Jill Stevens of the Utah National Guard's 1st Battalion, 211th Aviation Regiment. Sgt. Stevens is a decorated veteran of Afghanistan, a combat medic and....oh yes, Miss Utah 2007. Most likely the only Miss Utah able to field-strip an M4 Carbine for the talent competition and do push-ups in an evening gown.

Sgt Stevens graduated Summa Cum Laude from the Southern Utah University's Nursing Program and finished 16th overall in the 2008 Miss America pageant and named the "America's Choice" semi-finalist.

Granted I'm nearly 2 years behind on this, but congrats to Sgt. Stevens-a credit to the Utah National Guard (and the Army in general) as well as being pretty damn easy on the eyes. I'd take one Jill Stevens over a hundred bipolar kleptomaniac pathological liar pageant winners any day.

A Low Down Dirty Shame

Citynews.sg/Daniel Poh

What if they had a beauty pageant and none of the contestants wanted to participate?

Since bi-polar kleptomaniac Ris Low was stripped of her crown, the Miss World Singapore organizers have had a hard time finding a replacement. It's not that there aren't any runners-up, it's just that some of them don't want to go to the Miss World Finals in South Africa in Novmber. Runner up Claire Lee was quoted as saying "I don't intend to represent Singapore unless ERM [the pageant's parent comany] threatens to sue me.". The second runner-up is 19-year old Pilar Arlando.

Also, Ms. Low's claims of bi-polar disorder could be an attempt at further reducing her sentence for identity theft and misappropriation charges by pleading insanity.