Army Medic (and Miss Utah) Competing in Miss America Pageant

Posted By Blackfive

[This is a repost from November 26th, 2007, where Jill Stevens was Someone You Should Know. Just saw Jill on CNN and thought you should know more.]

Photo Sgt. Maj. Prater

GI Jill, Sergeant Jill Stevens, a Utah National Guard Medic and OEF veteran, is someone you can be proud of and support on January 26, 2008, when she competes in the Miss America Pageant.

As a National Guard soldier in College, her university pageant director convinced her to compete.  She scoffed at the idea.

...A combat medic and Miss Utah 2007, Sgt. Jill Stevens is a member of the Utah National Guard's 1st Battalion, 211th Aviation Regiment. She will chronicle her preparation and competition in the Miss America pageant at www.army.mil/gijill.

The pageant will be broadcast live on TLC, and a new reality series will air the night before to help viewers get to know each of the 52 contestants. Sgt. Stevens will also be featured in the cover story of the December issue of Soldiers magazine.

Sgt. Stevens had just started nursing school at Southern Utah University in the fall of 2005 when the school's pageant director recruited her to run for Miss SUU.

"I was like, 'Yeah, right.' I wear combat boots; I don't do heels," she said...

Thanks to Chuck Simmons at America's North Shore Journal for getting the word out.  Chuck has a lot more at his blog, including some photos of SGT Stevens in Afghanistan.

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» US Army Medic Vet, Nurse, Miss Utah, and Miss USA competitor! from crzegrl.net
Thought I was finished blogging for the time being, but just came across this via blackfive.net. SGT Jill Stevens, aka G.I. Jill, is now inducted into the Chicks that Kick Ass category of crzegrl.net. SGT Stevens is not only a Nurse (who... [Read More]

Comments

[thebronze]

Fukking. Hot.

Good luck!

[Cincinnati_Bob]

She is very attractive.

And, keeping in mind many, but not all, I'm sure, of the negative aspects of having women, wives and mothers off in harms way, I think it's absolutely beautiful that women are takin it to the Neanderthals known as Islam Fundamentalists, or for short, Sadistic Murderers and abusers of Women.

I respect any person doing what they want to do, after all, God's 'greatest gift to Mankind/Womenkind' is free will.

Again, It really is beautiful that the American Woman is kicking some ass in the ME.

All the best Sgt. Jill Stevens !

[Mommynator]

Now THERE'S an all-American girl for ya!

[winemkr]

Maybe I'm just to old to understand the concept of a female COMBAT MEDIC, WTF, Over...

Can someone explain to me why a female can have a COMBAT medic designation? Is this part of Army Strong?

[MegaTroopX]

Hellooooooo Sergeant Nurse!

/Yakko & Wacko

[Cincinnati_Bob]

Winemkr. I can dig it. Our daughter however is an "Independent Corpsman". She wants to go with the Marines into battle, and in fact can 'legally' wear every marine uniform except dress blue.

We've made peace with the idea. Free will, being happy, pursuit of life, liberty and happiness.
National Defense is her life's work now.

[winemkr]

Cinci Bob

You Said:

She wants to go with the Marines into battle

I appreciate your daughter's willingness to go into COMBAT.

But I cannot for the life of me understand how a FEMALE in the US Armed Forces can be designated a COMBAT MEDIC.

I don't want to rain on your parade or your daughter's aspirations, but the thought of a female in a COMBAT situation disgusts me. Sorry buddy, but thats the way it is for a lot of us warriors..

Bob,

I am a Marine, and after I was a Marine, I was USAF Combat Search and Rescue, or PJ. In other words a COMBAT MEDIC.

The subject of women in our career field used to come up and it was universally regurgitated as a very bad idea.

If there are women who are who have been designated as COMBAT medics who actually go on missions I'd love to hear their stories, but I highly doubt that this is reality.

As far as someone who is NOT a Marine wearing a Marine Corps uniform. I'll just forget that you said that.

Semper Fi, and Hoo Yah!

[Cincinnati_Bob]

Winemkr.

I have no problem with your feelings.

But let's take that a bit further into the abyss. We currently have a female who wants to be Commander in Chief of the Military. And we will have more in the future. We already have women in Congress effectively sending men and women into battle now.

If women can command men and women into battle, I am having a hard time excluding women from battle. I wouldn't SEND them mind you. Just as it is today, it is volunteer.

Given the political side, I don't have a problem with the reality side.

Cancel the women in government and I'll be Ok with canceling them from combat service.

[submandave]

Winemkr, as you know the USMC is a lean, mean fighting machine and do not have many organic support members. Navy corpsmen and Chaplains (as well as the less well known ANGLICO) attached to USMC commands routinely wear the marine uniforms with special Navy insignia. It's been that way at least since I started NROTC back in '82 and is still true today.

[JihadGene]

Meanwhile somwhere in Mayberry, N.C....

FLOYD- Yes, Gomer that's a beautiful woman, that is.

GOMER- Yeah Floyd. That's one purrdee medic there. Ya know, we had medics in the Marine Corpse but they wasn't narry one a Marine.

FLOYD- Really, Gomer?

GOMER- Yep. Oh they wore a Marine Corpse uniform 'n all but theys had to wears them a special badge ah-showin they was Navy personnel.

FLOYD- Special badge, Gomer? You mean like the Globe and Anchor.

GOMER- Zackly, Floyd.

FLOYD- Well what was it, Gomer?

GOMER- The Globe 'n SQUID!

FLOYD- SHAZAMM!!!

GOMER- Hey! That's my line... ...reckon I'm still pissed over the Army-Navy game.

FLOYD- Well...Golllllleeeee!

GOMER- You best knock that sh*t off, Floyd.

[Subsunk]

SGT Jill,

You are already Miss America to me. You are everything that is best about America. You serve your country, you serve your fellow man, and you look good under lights or under fire. And as Cinci Bob says, any Woman who can take it to radical Islamist enemies is the epitome of Womanhood to me.

God Bless You, Lady. You are already the biggest winner I know.

Subsunk

[Miss Ladybug]

In addition to being an Army medic and Miss Utah, she is also the spokesperson for The Afghanistan Orphanage Project, which was started by members of her National Guard unit. I found out about that last night, from a link at AnySoldier.com. There is going to be a fundraiser on Jan. 19th at a fancy restaurant in Sandy, UT.

[jordan]

I caught the show this afternoon, and she was definitely the most grounded, common-sensical and un-flakey contestant shown. She exhibited humility and a sense of humor and perspective about the situation, coming off much more dignified and intelligent than the others.

One of the judges was apparently miffed by her lack of respect for makeup, dresses and girl stuff. Hello? Thought this was supposed to be the new Miss America. The guy struggled to come up with something negative to say, but could only manage a vaguely irritable attitude in his critique. Maybe there's just something about her (ahem) he doesn't like.

She did a stand-up job, and didn't look desperate to win or overly girly like some of the others. There's also a video available when she won the Miss Utah contest. She triumphantly punched the air with her fit bicep and seemed to let out a hooah. A refreshing change from the usual tears of joy, covered mouth, and hug for the loser.

The picture of her with the Afghan girls? Look at their eyes to see how this professional soldier inspired them. She's probably done more for the cause of women than all the others combined.

[Synova]

"I have no problem with your feelings."

Well I do.

No, no, I've got no intentions of trying to claim women have the same physical ability as men.

But it *is* about raining on aspirations, isn't it. It's about denying the honor as much as it is about denying the risk.

Women have never been safe in war. Ever.

[patriotview]

Wouldn't it be nice that instead of every time we've bombarded with "news" about dysfunctional social-degenerates like Britney, Lindsey, et al, we instead heard about women like Sgt. Stevens?

What would that impact how girls see themselves, and choose paths in life? (Likewise for the guys in seeing good success stories and good role models in men) Nah, good news about good people, can't promote that now, back to the endless "breaking news" coverage by all of our glorious cable news networks about Brittney's latest effort at slow suicide, yeah, that's top priority news, for sure. eesh.

[Cincinnati_Bob]

Patriotview. Isn't the demoralizing of the country a big part of the communist subversion/indoctrination effort ? Demoralizing in that people's morals seem to have been lowered - if you observe much pop culture - and demoralizing from the point of view that people simply get fed up with the outside world as it is presented to them and give up.

We do seem to be on a strong agenda based movement to eliminate extraordinary on both ends of the scale. No winners, but no losers either. If that's not '1984 big brother culture', I don't know what is. That it is even being allowed to happen is fascinating to me.

[Ymarsakar]

She still looks amazingly like the co-star of Stargate SG1.

[Ymarsakar]

The Marine Corps was one of the most resistant, of all the branches, to integration during WWII of blacks and whites. After WWII, once they got over the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" theme, they were the first and best service for ignoring color differences in promotion and recruitment.

They desegregated about 10 years before Robert Byrd ever took off his white hood to attempt to block the Civil Rights Act in the Senate.

It doesn't really matter what people think now about women. All that matters is the future, and the past has given plenty of hints concerning the future.

Besides, unless America copies the Marius Reforms, we aren't going to have the manpower to deal with the world's problems if we also drop 50% of the US pop.

[Ymarsakar]

No, no, I've got no intentions of trying to claim women have the same physical ability as men.

Jihadists don't have the same physical ability as US Marines either, coincidentally, that don't keep them from killing and blowing up their enemies.

The same macroscopic considerations that Rome had to deal with concerning Horse Archer steppe tactics, applies the same way to bulky but immobile body armor and women's lack of brute force strength.

War was never entirely about who had the brute force strength. Back in the muscle powered days, the need for muscles was pretty much true for everybody and non-violable yet they still had room for deception tactics. With pilots flying UAVs and exo-skeleton armor systems being researched if not developed now, the future is going towards a de-emphasis on brute force strength. If only because nuclear weapons will be the beginning and end of most wars. Brute force strength of the Roman heavy infantry or the mobility of Hunnish, Sarmatian, Saka Rauka, etc horse archers will see a resurgence in the debates about modern sensibilities.

This also reminds me of those crazy Gauls that were said to have women almost as strong as the men, who were also expected to command and fight in the wars just as the men were. Barbarians, what can you expect.

They lost to the Roman patrician society, of course, but now a days we're the Romans but the Islamic fighters for an unholy world are far more patrician than the Romans ever were. A kind of ironic reverse. Then again, the cannon fodder of Arabia uses their women for shields, so maybe that counts for something in that matriarchy-patriarchy dichotomy.

[Ymarsakar]

Oh ya, for some laughs, try to recall some of the legends about Sarmatian virgin archers. Supposedly they were a light cavalry force using hit and run tactics, Hunnish/Parthian sally/shot, utilizing the composite/recurved bows of the steppes. They had to kill a man before they could marry.

History is so funny. How do humans come up with this stuff anyways.

Light cavalry, heavy cavalry, light infantry, and heavy infantry. Every light unit sacrifices armor and firepower for speed and mobility. Every heavy unit sacrifices mobility and flexibility for increased firepower and armor.

Can't exactly catch insurgents in a M1A2 tank or when you got the heavy heavy body armor.

[Ymarsakar]

It is a fact ascertained by many writers, That women in the north of Europe were eminent for resolution and courage. Caesar, in the first book of his commentaries, describing a battle he fought with the Helvetii, says, that the women with a warlike spirit exhorted their husbands to persist, and placed the waggons in a line to prevent their flight. Florus and Taci-tus mention, that several battles of those barbarous nations were renewed by their women, presenting their naked bosoms, and declaring their abhorrence of captivity. Flavius Vopiscus, writing of Proculus Caesar, says, that a hundred Sarmatian virgins were taken in battle. The Longobard women, when many of their husbands were cut off in a battle, took up arms, and obtained the victory (a) . The females of the Galactophagi, a Scythian tribe, were as warlike as the males, and went often with them to war (b) . In former times, many women in Denmark applied themselves to arms (c) . Jornandes describes the women of the Goths as full of courage, and trained to arms like the men. Joannes Magnus, Archbishop of Upsal, says the same; and mentions in particular an expedition of the Goths to invade a neighbouring country, in which more women went along with the men than were left at home (d) . Several Scandinavian women exercised piracy (a) . The Cimbri were always attended with their wives even in their distant expeditions, and were more afraid of their reproaches than of the blows of the enemy. The Goths, compelled by famine to surrender to Belisarius the city of Ravenna, were bitterly reproached by their wives for cowardice (b) . In a battle between Regner King of Denmark and Fro King of Sweden, many women took part with the former, Langertha in particular, who fought with her hair flowing about her shoulders. Regner, being victorious, demanded who that woman was who had behaved so gallantly; and finding her to be a virgin of noble birth, he took her to wife. He afterward divorced her, in order to make way for a daughter of the King of Sweden. Regner being unhappily engaged in a civil war with Harald, who aspired to the throne of Denmark; Langertha, overlooking her wrongs, brought from Norway a body of men to assist her husband; and behaved so gallantly, that, in the opinion of all, Regner was indebted to her for the victory.

To find women, in no considerable portion of the globe, rivalling men in their capital property of courage, is a singular phenomenon. That this phenomenon must have had an adequate cause, is certain; but of that cause, it is better to acknowledge our utter ignorance, however mortifying, than to squeeze out conjectures that will not bear examination.

In rude nations, prophets and soothsayers are held to be a superior class of men: what a figure then must the Vandal women have made, when in that nation, as Procopius says, all the prophets and soothsayers were of the female sex? In Scandinavia, women are said to have been skilful in magic arts, as well as men. Tacitus informs us, that the Germans had no other physicians but their women. They followed the armies, to staunch the blood, and suck the wounds of their husbands.* He mentions a fact that sets the German women in a conspicuous light, That female hostages bound the Germans more strictly to their engagements than male hostages. He adds, “Inesse quinetiam sanctum aliquid et providum putant: nec aut consilia earum aspernantur, aut responsa negliguntur.”* The histories and romances of the north represent women, and even princesses, acting as physicians in war.

Polygamy sprung up in countries where women are treated as inferior beings: it can never take place where the two sexes are held to be of equal rank. For that reason, polygamy never was known among the northern nations of Europe. Saxo Grammaticus, who wrote the history of Denmark in the twelfth century, gives not the slightest hint of polygamy, even among kings and princes. Crantz, in his history of the Saxons (a) , affirms, that polygamy was never known among the nor-thern nations of Europe; which is confirmed by every other writer who gives the history of any of these nations. Scheffer in particular, who writes the history of Lapland, observes, that neither polygamy nor divorce were ever heard of in that country, not even during Paganism.

Check out that polygamy reference.

Link

The Persian and Arab world have often had multiple wives and concubines due to the fact that, unlike the Romans, they didn't convert to Christianity.

So there's some interesting socio-political issues going on here in history.

America does not just derive her foundations from Greek and Roman histories and cultures, America gets a lot of blood and history from Europe, both West and East.

Woah, I think I wrote too many comments. Going to have to cut this short.

PS. I like the Marines precisely because they as a force understand that the most deadly weapon available to humanity is the human brain.

[The WatchCat]

Women have never been safe in war. Ever.

True enough. But who or what is EVER safe in war?

"Whom shall I send?"
First priority is the ability to do the job well. Second is the impact on safety for the rest of the team. Third is the individual's safety. Politics should come dead last.

[Shooter963]

I don't have any problem with women in combat occupations, They certainly have the mental aptitude to do so.

My problem with women in the military (all women in the military) is the double standard. If a certain job requires physical abilities, then there should be only one standard. Not one standard for men and a lesser one for women.

One Job - One standard.