httpss://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjtaxK5crxk
Story highlightsDeshauna Barber has served in the Army Reserve since 2011She impressed with her answer to a judge’s question about women in combat roles.
Deshauna Barber, a 26-year-old from the nation’s capital, gave the answer during the interview section of the pageant in Las Vegas on Sunday.
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.
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.
Barber won the pageant ahead of first runner-up Chelsea Hardin, Miss Hawaii, and second runner-up Emanii Davis, Miss Georgia.
She will now go on to represent the United States in the Miss Universe pageant.
Miss USA organizers also addressed a prominent mishap from the December Miss Universe pageant, when host Steve Harvey flubbed the announcement of the winner and was widely ridiculed for it.