— Deshauna Barber, Army Reserve officer and logistics commander who represented Washington, D.C. in the Miss USA contest and who will now represent the U.S. in the Miss Universe contest. She also works as an IT analyst for the U.S. Department of Commerce and is the first-ever member of the U.S. military to win the competition.
Barber commands the 988th Quartermaster Detachment Unit at Ft. Meade, Maryland. When asked about whether the Pentagon’s decision to open up all combat roles to women had “put political correctness over our military’s ability to perform,” she replied, “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.”