From Beauty Queen to Gy-rene?

Is that how to spell Gy-rene? Please correct me, you Marines, out there!

Anyway, she’s not joining the Marines, she’s joining the Army. But Army didn’t rhyme. :-)

This is a pretty cool story.

Last summer, Jennifer Cabanayan appeared at community events, including the Mukilteo Lighthouse Festival and the National Night Out Against Crime, as Miss Everett Teen USA 2004. Now she has enlisted in the Army and will leave for boot camp at Fort Jackson, S.C., on Aug. 11.

The petite brunette says Army service has always been in the back of her mind.

“I’m capable, I’m healthy. This is the right thing to do,” said Cabanayan, who attended Cascade and Marysville-Pilchuck high schools before earning her GED. “I cannot wait for that moment of putting on a uniform. It gives you that honor.”

Paulene Saylor, Cabanayan’s mother, said her daughter comes from a military family. Saylor’s father, Otis Saylor of Stanwood, served two tours in Vietnam with an Army airborne unit. His granddaughter will follow in his boot steps. After basic training, she’ll go to airborne jump school at Fort Benning, Ga.

H/T Ace, who points out that the usual “we support the troops but not Bush’s war” folks are wishing her ill. Sigh. Well, I wish her the best, anyway.

WELCOME Blackfive readers! While you’re here look around. Today we’re also discussing all the missed opportunities to fight terrorism, the new GI With a Ford Mustang commercial, President Bush’s Sane Kyoto manuever, the pathetic shape of the DNC and the worthiness of 189 Investigations of troops guarding prisoners. And thanks to Blackfive for the link! I already have two Paratrooper of Love tees! :-)