Soldiering on to Miss America title?

Ramling' Jan: Wow. That's my first reaction to reading about this impressive 24 year old from Utah! She typifies true American spirit and would be an outstanding poster child for everything USA!

Photo: Utah Army National Guard Sgt. Jill Stevens, who is competing in the Miss America pageant as Miss Utah, plays with children while serving as a medic in Afghanistan in 2004.

Guard Medic Focuses On Miss America Title
By Staff Sgt. Rebecca Doucette, USA
Special to American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, 2008 - Utah Army National Guard Sgt. Jill Stevens' "personal combat zone" has shifted from Afghanistan to Nevada, from a minefield to a beauty contest, from combat boots to high heels.

The 24-year-old Stevens also is Miss Utah, and she is a contestant in the Miss America Pageant in Las Vegas, which will be televised Jan. 26 on The Learning Channel.

Stevens, a combat medic with the Utah Guard, has a resume that isn't what you would typically expect from a soldier, or a pageant contestant, for that matter: graduate, summa cum laude, Southern Utah University; soldier, Army National Guard; veteran, Operation Enduring Freedom, Afghanistan; contestant, 2008 Miss America Live.

If she wins the crown, Stevens will be the first Miss America to have served in a combat zone, a pageant spokesperson said. She would become the 80th Miss America overall for the pageant, which began in 1921, according to the Miss America Web site. (There were eight years when a new Miss America was not named).

In her duties as Miss Utah, Stevens has traveled from Florida to California, from the destruction of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana to the streets of Washington, D.C. She has spoken to generals from 40 countries.

Back in Utah, she talks about her military experiences with students from preschool through college and challenges them to push-up contests.

"We have our personal combat zone," Stevens tells students. "I served in one in Afghanistan. We all have them in life, whether it be with school, family, peer pressure or finding a career. It's our own minefield and we have to learn to dodge the mines by keeping focus on the target, not doubting ourselves, and believing what our potential is and what we can do."

Like other citizen-soldiers and -airmen, Stevens stays busy and balances life out of uniform with life in uniform. She recently said she hopes the pageant audience and judges see beyond her military uniform to the full complexity of her life.

"I don't want to showcase this in a, 'Oh, look at me, I'm a soldier, I serve my country, you should pick me' kind of way," she said. "I want them to think. I want them to look at Jill Stevens and see the whole picture of everything that I do, and being a soldier is a huge part of that, but there's a lot more."

Nevertheless, her pageant platform mirrors the Guard's domestic playbook: "Ready when disaster strikes – emergency preparedness for everyone."

"That comes from my soldier side of being ready for anything," Stevens said. "As a medic, we have to be ready for any injury that we face on missions."

And Stevens draws on her Guard experiences – from Basic Combat Training to a combat zone – in her talks with students.

"I talk about going through the gas chamber, and I relate that to doubt in our lives," she said. "I talk about shooting at a range, relating that to goals – how we need to keep focused on the target. I talk about running through a minefield in life."

The final stop on her run for the title of Miss America is a four-day competition in Las Vegas, culminating with the crowning of the winner on national TV.

Conspicuously absent from the competition will be Stevens' military uniform. But with the help of the American Legion, at least 50 of her fellow soldiers will attend the final night of the pageant at Planet Hollywood on Jan 26.

That arrangement started when a former Miss America, Sharlene Wells, called the Miss America Organization to say that a group of Utah National Guard soldiers wanted to come to the pageant and show their support, but had no budget to buy tickets.

The organization in turn called the American Legion, which offered to sponsor the soldiers and pay for their tickets to attend.

"The motto for the American Legion is 'for God and Country,' and that's exactly what Stevens is doing," said Joe March, the Legion's public relations director. "She stands as a great example of a proud American who is dedicated not only to her country, but to her community and her comrades."

As she goes into the competition, Stevens said "My target is Miss America. The military has taught me if I practice, work hard at it and keep focus on the target, I'll be ready."

(Editor's note: Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill contributed to this report. Greenhill and Staff Sgt. Rebecca Doucette work for the National Guard Bureau.)

U.S. Troops Help Renovate Iraqi Clinic

Every day I see how great our soldiers are! Tales of sharing, giving, reaching out to people across the world. Our soldiers are the kids next door. They're the Boy Scouts, the straight A students who volunteered to clean up the shut-ins yard, they're the ones who went on church missions to build homes in Mexico, they're the ones who held the door open for the lady carrying heavy bags and offered to help. They are the children we raised to do the right thing. We took care of them for years, raising them right, and now they're off trying to take care of us.

Here's another story about something good our soldiers are doing:

Soldiers and leaders of 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony Dec. 11 to open a health clinic in Wahida, Iraq.

Four months ago, city council members came to the regiment's leaders with concerns about the existing clinic's lack of space and equipment, said Army Capt. Matthew Givens, from Columbus, Ga., the battalion's non-lethal effects officer.

Council members and soldiers decided to renovate the existing building by adding more examination rooms, an emergency room and an upstairs apartment for the doctors with two bedrooms, a kitchen and a bathroom.

"This clinic gives the doctors a lot more to work with, and they will be able to treat more patients," Givens said. "With the upstairs apartment, doctors can stay overnight. Before, the doctors would have to come from Baghdad early, then leave and go back to Baghdad that same night."

Wahida has no hospital, Givens said. The new clinic will serve as the city's primary medical facility. It has enough room to bed patients overnight instead of treating them and sending them home.

"The clinic is going to be helpful to the Wahida citizens," Dr. Taher Awaed, the clinic's director, said through an interpreter. "The clinic is good. However, with a few more pieces of equipment, it will be perfect. But everyone is very grateful."

Givens said more equipment, including an X-ray machine, is on the way.

After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, doctors and medics from 203rd Brigade Support Battalion and 489th Civil Affairs Battalion, a reserve unit from Knoxville, Tenn., attached to 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, held a free medical operation.

Soldiers used four of the new health clinic rooms to treat men, women and children from all over the city. Patients came to the medical staff with ailments ranging from the common cold to blood pressure problems.

"This is a way for me to give back to humanity," said Army Capt. Aaron Wilson, from Watertown, N.Y., battalion surgeon with 203rd Base Support Battalion.

When patients were ready to be seen, they explained their medical issues through an interpreter to a physician or medic from 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team.

"Going through the translator is tough," said Sgt. 1st Class Wayne Pack, from Knoxville, Tenn., a medic in the 489th Civil Affairs Battalion. "You have to concentrate. You can't lose focus. After the conversation is translated, I sometimes wonder if I'm getting the full story. I enjoy it, though. We get to see a lot of sick people, and that's what we do. Most of these people don't have a lot of money. If we didn't do this, they wouldn't be getting any medical attention at all."

Awaed and Wilson agreed the villagers appreciated the free medical treatment.

"I can see it in their eyes," Awaed said through an interpreter. "They are very thankful for the coalition forces for their help. Together, we just try to help as many people as we can."

"Everyone I saw was so grateful," Wilson said. "They all smiled and said, 'thank you'. I just wish I could do more."

(Army Sgt. Natalie Rostek is assigned to 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs.)

ESGR Seeks Freedom Award Nominees

The National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve is seeking employers with records of stellar support for military employees.

The group is accepting nominations for the 2008 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Awards through Jan. 21.

"Almost one-half of the U.S. military is comprised of the National Guard and Reserve," said Beth Sherman, an ESGR spokeswoman. "The Department of Defense shares these citizen warriors with their civilian employers, many of whom provide significant support to (these) employees."

Past recipients of the award have provided full salary, a continuation of benefits, care packages and other forms of help such as home and lawn care for families of employees fulfilling military obligations.

"While all employer support is exemplary, small employers that go above and beyond the requirements of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act to assist their employees serving in the National Guard and Reserve, really set the bar high (last year)," Sherman said.

USERRA prohibits discrimination against people because of military service.

Augustine and Sons, a family-owned farm in Iowa, is one example of a small business that goes out of its way for its employees, Sherman said.

When one of its employees, 1st Sgt. Matthew Strasser, an Iowa Army National Guardsman, was deployed, the farm lost half its staff. Yet the Augustine family offered its continuing support to the family Strasser left behind.

"They allowed Strasser's wife and ... two sons to live on the farm rent-free," Sherman said. "The Augustines took the boys fishing, attended their sports games and fixed their dirt bikes."

Large businesses previously recognized for their exemplary support include Sears and Starbucks. The commonwealth of Massachusetts and the state of Tennessee both are past recipients of the public-sector award.

ESGR is encouraging National Guardsmen, reservists and their family members to nominate employers who offer their employees similar support. Nomination forms are available on the committee's Web site, www.esgr.org.

Last year, 1,119 nominations were received. To date, ESGR has received 268 already this year.

"Given that employer support is so strong, we hope reserve-component members will see fit to nominate their deserving employers," Sherman said. "This kind of recognition establishes a benchmark for all employers, and we hope this recognition is a small thank you from the Department of Defense."

Winners selected in three categories will be announced in early spring and will receive their awards during a Sept. 18 award ceremony.

Founded in 1972, the National Committee for Employer Support for the Guard and Reserve is a Defense Department agency established to promote cooperation and understanding between reserve-component members and their civilian employers. The organization also is a supporter of America Supports You, a Defense Department program connecting citizens and corporations with military personnel and their families serving at home and abroad.

Then-Defense Secretary William Perry instituted the Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award in 1996.

Related Sites: Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act America Supports You