Vern Evans
The extent to which 2nd Lt. Madison Marsh had found herself in uncharted military territory became clear at a NASCAR event in February, where her dual-hat duties required her to execute quick changes between her Air Force combat utility uniform and full pageant regalia.
Her schedule had her meeting the Air Force Thunderbirds demonstration team and then a collection of military generals before shifting to a more conventional Miss America crowd-greeting public appearance at the race.
Marsh, 23, who will complete her year as the first active-duty Miss America in January, said she realized a level-setting conversation was in order as she scrambled to conform to wildly different appearance standards in rapid succession.
“Obviously, the Miss America people, they don’t know Air Force uniform standards, so no one knows, ‘Oh wait, you can’t wear lashes and a long giant ponytail and red lipstick and eyeshadow in uniform,’” Marsh said. “And it’s like, no I can’t do both of those at once.”
Eyelashes aside, Marsh, a 2023 U.S. Air Force Academy graduate and Truman Scholar whose next plans involve a study program at Harvard, found a mutually beneficial way to serve out her dual identity in 2024. In conversations that began when she was crowned Miss Colorado in May 2023, she began to plan out with her chain of command how it might be feasible and practical to serve out a potential Miss America role while on active duty.
“I know a lot of people from all across the country, on many different bases, had to pour in a lot of time after I had won,” she said, “figuring out the legal logistics of what this is actually going to look like and trying to look at some of the Air Force memos and how we can really make this work.”
Ultimately, the Air Force moved her into a highly customized public affairs position, building off her existing slate of public engagements for Miss America to conduct outreach for the service and generate awareness and interest in joining the military.
Since she won the title in January, Marsh said, she’s participated in 106 Air Force-related public engagements involving conversations with students, parents and other “influencers” to promote military service.
“We’ve really found an amazing way to overlap both of these jobs to make sure that we’re still hitting the standard and reaching the people in the environment that we want to reach,” she said.
Marsh’s grueling travel schedule hasn’t allowed for many conventional military activities and experiences in what is essentially her first active-duty role. Marsh’s time spent on base at her home station, Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, she said, has largely consisted of mandatory activities, including drug testing, medical appointments, meetings with commanding officers and performance reviews.
Occasionally, she said, she’s gotten recognized by other service members while running errands in utilities and a ballcap. While she enjoys making the connections, she said, it’s also a little stressful given the appearance standards and requirements for Miss America.
“Even last week, I was doing my outprocessing for my base and showed up to work with no makeup,” she said. “And one of the people who worked at the front was like, ‘Oh, we’ve got to get the major.’”
Even sans makeup, she said, she agreed to a group photo with the office staff.
“Everyone always has the opportunity to do small things for other people and make their day,” Marsh said. “So, that’s been cool, to give people joy like that this year.”
Even apart from her top title in one of the nation’s most prestigious pageant competitions, Marsh’s achievements and aspirations demonstrate her fearlessness.
She’s had internships with prestigious organizations such as NASA; became an activist for pancreatic cancer research at age 17 following the death of her mother from the disease; has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do; and possesses a pilot’s license, which seeded her initial ambition to fly for the Air Force.
Marsh told Military Times her experience in military training should be an encouragement to young women who fear they couldn’t hack it in uniform or at war.
Polling data made public by the Defense Department in December showed that just one in four women aged 16 to 21 believe they could make it through boot camp, and just 8% believe they have what it takes to fight in a war.
“When I entered basic [training] I was 17 years old. I was on the cheer team in high school. I was very scrawny … maybe 110 pounds,” Marsh said. “I worked very hard the year before I went into basic to make sure I was going to go above and beyond the standards that were going to be expected of me, and also having the mental resilience to keep going when you fail. I think that willingness to learn is going to carry people so much farther, and also not closing yourself off from opportunities.”
Reflecting on her experiences as a Truman Scholar and her upcoming studies at the Harvard Kennedy School, Marsh noted, “I never would have gotten that if I would have counted myself out before I even showed up to basic.”
After Marsh hands off her crown, she’s headed to Hanscom Air Base, Massachusetts, where she’ll complete her final year-plus of studies to earn a master’s of public policy from Harvard under the Air Force Institute of Technology’s Civilian Institutions program.
With her fiance also in the Air Force, Marsh said she plans to continue to serve, though she’s not fully certain how long she’ll be in or what military career she’ll pursue. While she initially joined through a desire to be a pilot, Marsh said she has ruled out a return to flight training, adding that she wants to find a service job that she’s “fully passionate about.”
“The Air Force has treated me extremely well so far,” she said. “So, I can only imagine what other opportunities are going to be in store.”
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