Story by Kristen Brewer
STAND UP Today, female service members see a door opened, ending presumptions that heels and boots are mutually exclusive. This comes after Lieutenant Madison Marsh became the first active Air Force officer to win Miss America.
Madison Mills, UNC Air Force ROTC Cadet
“When it comes to the military, there is such a big stigma that girls have to be masculine to be in the military.”
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Miss America is a program that started in 1921, developing national charities, service projects, and educational scholarships for women. Lieutenant Marsh’s win made history for not only the Air Force but also the Miss America pageant itself.
Taylor Loyd, Miss North Carolina
“Having somebody like Madison really, as our Miss America, I think having her really bridges the gap between what GenPop Americans think of pageants and what they actually are, which is putting a woman in a position where she can be a multihyphenate in whatever that means to her.”
Nat: shooting from Air Force ROTC cadets
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Yet military perspectives are scattered. In a survey given to future service members, one response stood out in particular.
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Women participating in events like this may look good to the public, but it ultimately harms both women in uniform and the public’s increasingly low opinion of the modern-day military’s rigor. Furthermore, an officer’s priority should be taking care of their people and completing the mission(s) of the US military. Any officer spending the focus that Miss America requires on a pageant instead of the job is one I want out.
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However, the majority of service members and pageant title holders are excited to demonstrate the diversity of female officers in the force, showing younger generations a variety of female leadership.
Taylor Loyd, Miss North Carolina
“Preparing great women for the world and preparing the world for great women, that’s the tagline, um, and so I think that that is really embodied in Maddie and what she’s gone through, her personal story with losing her mom to Pancreatic Cancer and being a woman in the military, I think that’s certainly embodied by her and really by all of us.”
Brie H. Vihlen, Former F-15 WSO
“Having teams of people from different backgrounds and different mindsets, different ways of viewing and understanding problems actually gives us a strategic advantage over our global competitors.”
Outcue: Standard
TRT: 2:25
