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Posted: 8:41 PM- LAS VEGAS -- There she is, Miss. . . Stevens.

Jill Stevens, the Utah tomboy turned combat medic turned beauty queen, was unable to take another improbable turn into the Miss America crown Saturday night. That honor went to Kirsten Haglund of Michigan, a more conventional contestant for the stately 87-year-old institution.

But Stevens' journey to the competition may nonetheless be a clue into how Americans have come to see veterans - and female veterans in particular.

The 24-year-old Utah National Guard soldier, who served a tour of duty in Afghanistan, didn't make it to a spot on the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino stage alongside 15 other contestants in spite of her veteran's status, but rather because of it - as an alternate finalist chosen by the viewers of the TLC cable series "Miss America: Reality Check."

Stevens, a native of Kaysville, had long acknowledged that she didn't quite fit the model of a pageant queen. A marathon runner and the only contestant to choose a one-piece suit for what is billed as a the "fitness" portion of the competition, she answered to her elimination by dropping to the stage for a set of push-ups, to the cheers of thousands in the audience, including scores of fellow members of the Utah National Guard.

But although her exit may have highlighted how little Miss America may have moved away from its roots as a beauty contest on the beaches of Atlantic City, Stevens was nonetheless complimentary of the pageant, saying it gave her a chance to change perceptions about two absurdly dissimilar worlds.

Stevens said she likes to believe that any of her military predecessors could have done the same thing. But, she sighed, "I'm not sure America would have been ready for it."

Colleen Mussolino tristfully agreed. The Vietnam veteran and co-founder of Women Veterans of America said any female soldier who may have dreamed of being Miss America in the 1970s "probably would have had to have hidden the fact that she had been in the military, not just because it goes against a stereotype, but because of the way America perceived of who veterans, both male and female, are."

"That's how it was for us then," Mussolino said. "Not just for Miss America, but for everyday life, being a veteran wasn't something you talked about."

Indeed, in the latter years of the Vietnam war and those immediately following, only about one in four Americans had "a great deal" of confidence in the military, according to Rochester, N.Y.-based Harris Interactive, which has been tracking public perceptions of the military for more than 40 years,

And Von Jones, who served as a Marine in Vietnam and now runs a writing program for fellow veterans at Salt Lake Community College, said Americans didn't separate the military from its members back then.

"I think many of us felt that we didn't get our propers," he said. "I don't even know what we want. I don't think any of us do. We just know that we went, we gave it up and somehow when we came back, we ended up with the short end of the stick."

Public support for the military remained low throughout the 1980s before rebounding, slightly, in the years after the fall of the Soviet Union.

But September 11 changed everything.

"In 2002, after the events of 9/11, the military had the highest rating ever," said Regina Corso, the poll's director. "Seven in 10 Americans said they had a great deal of confidence in it. This number stayed relatively high during '03 and '04, but began to drop as the war in Iraq dragged on and became more and more unpopular."

But Paul Reickhoff, director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said that unlike the aftermath of Vietnam, the flailing support for the war in Iraq does not seem to have brought down Americans' general sense of pride and support for their service members.

"I live in the East Village in New York," said Reickhoff, a veteran of dozens of combat patrols in Baghdad. "And when I go out in uniform, people are falling all over themselves to try to buy me a beer."

Reickhoff credits the advocacy of Vietnam's vets with the reception he and other current service members have received when returning home from war. But he said there is plenty of room to improve - particularly in putting words to action and legislation.

And, he said, the national perception about who veterans are could still use some help from soldiers like Stevens.

"Veterans aren't just guys with gray hair and funny hats," he said.

Reickhoff recalled a day, a few weeks back, in which he was out with four friends, two of whom had just returned from Iraq. "I went to the bar and I said, 'my two friends over there just got back from Iraq and we'd like to do some shots, would you hook us up?'

"So the girl comes walking over to the guys and says, 'these are on the house, welcome home.'"

But Reickhoff said it wasn't the two men he was with who were the combat vets - it was the two women they were with. "It just didn't connect in her mind," he said.

Stevens may indeed be a product of change in the way Americans think about veterans, Reickhoff said, but she could also be a catalyst for changes to come.

In the meantime, he said, "it's good to see people are starting to recognize that being a combat veteran is a hell of a lot more significant than twirling a baton." - mlaplante@sltrib.com" Target="_BLANK">mlaplante@sltrib.com