Soldier turned Miss USA beauty queen says: 'Women are just as tough as men'

• 11:25, 6 Jun 2016
• By Sally Ho

Deshauna Barber, the first member of the military to be crowned champion, also challenged presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump to focus on forces issues

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A female army officer turned Miss USA beauty queen has said women are just as tough as men.
Deshauna Barber, the first member of the military to be crowned champion, also challenged presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump to focus on forces issues.
The 26-year-old picked up the sash in Las Vegas and will now compete in the Miss Universe event.
Ms Barber said: "As a woman in the United States Army, I think we are just as tough as men.
"As a commander of my unit, I'm powerful, I am dedicated.

REUTERS

Ms Barber is the first member of the military to win the event

"Gender does not limit us in the United States."
Read more: Beauty queen in 4-inch heels fights off would-be mugger
After her triumph, the lieutenant from north-east District of Columbia said she planned to take a break from the Army Reserves and had already discussed with superiors the possibility of going inactive for a couple of years should she win the title.
She currently serves two days a month.
"My commander should be watching right now," she said.
"Two days a month is definitely not active duty.
"It is an obligation that I signed up for but they are very flexible in the United States Army Reserves."

REUTERS

The 26-year-old said women are just as tough as men

Ms Barber said she plans to use the pageant's spotlight and her title to support veterans' causes and tackle the issue of suicide and post-traumatic stress disorder among military members.
When asked what message she had for the presidential candidates - including former pageant owner and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump - Barber said they should focus more on forces issues including the backlog at veterans' hospitals.
"I think that a lot of the topics that they discuss isn't as important," she said, sporting a glittering gold gown.

REUTERS

Ms Barber called on the next president to focus on forces issues

Ms Barber is not the only contestant who had to address the election and Mr Trump, who had a public break-up with the beauty pageant organisation last year.
Mr Trump offended Hispanics when he made anti-immigrant remarks in announcing his bid for the White House last June.
At the he time co-owned The Miss Universe Organisation with NBCUniversal, but the network and the Spanish-language broadcaster Univision quickly cut ties with him, refusing to air the show.

REUTERS

Ms Barber said gender was no barrier to success in the states

Mr Trump sued both networks, eventually settling and selling off the entire pageant to talent management company WME/IMG.
Miss Hawaii, who came second in the contest, punted during the question-and-answer segment when asked who she would vote for among the likely presidential candidates, Mr Trump or Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Chelsea Hardin acknowledged that there was no way to correctly answer the question during the beauty pageant.
The question was framed with Mrs Clinton's likely status of being the first woman nominated by a major political party in the race for the White House.
But the 24-year-old college student from Honolulu responded that gender did not matter when deciding America's next commander in chief.
The other women in the top five were asked about voting rights, income inequality and the death of boxing legend Muhammad Ali.

REUTERS

She will now go on to compete in the Miss Universe event

The beauty pageant organisation did not shy away from addressing another controversy from last year - Miss Universe, when host Steve Harvey made a cameo in a video at the start of the Miss USA show to poke fun at the Miss Universe crowning that he botched in December.
Harvey was hosting Miss Universe last year when he mistakenly named Colombia's Ariadna Gutierrez Arevalo the winner before correcting himself on the stage.
Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach of the Philippines was then given the crown.
Read more: Miss World hopeful stripped of beauty queen title
Officials later said it was due to human error.

REUTERS

Ms Barber was handed the sash in Las Vegas

The talk show host said he had re-read the card and noticed it said "first runner-up" next to the Colombia contestant's name before clarifying his mistake with producers.
He took to Twitter after Miss USA on Sunday night to mock himself again by highlighting the similarity of the two locations, the District of Columbia and the country of Colombia.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/soldier-turned-miss-usa-beauty-8123189