ROTC cadet wins tiara as Miss Georgia USA - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

ROTC cadet wins tiara as Miss Georgia USA

A tiara is a wonderful thing, but it can’t get you out of your Air Force physical fitness assessment.

Kimberly Gittings, a sophomore ROTC cadet at the University of Georgia, was crowned Miss Georgia USA on Nov. 8; a little more than 24 hours later, she was cranking out sit-ups at O-dark-30 for her PFA.

Gittings admits that balancing her school work, pageant competitions and ROTC commitments is “a struggle.” But the pageant circuit has more in common with military service than you might think, she said.

There’s a lot more tedious paperwork involved than most people realize, for one thing. Just like the military, attention to detail is paramount. And in both cases, she said, “you’re representing an organization,” and are expected to behave accordingly.

Gittings will have to push back her field training a year, said her ROTC commander, Lt. Col. David Baylor. But unless she wins the Miss USA pageant this spring in Las Vegas — a title she would “give the entire left half of my body” to achieve — she plans to stick with the Air Force.

“I like the principles, I like the values,” she said — and the scholarship help she hopes to get for medical school.