Well, you don’t see this everyday….

In 2006/2007, “Combat Barbie”—aka Corporal Katrina Hodge, then age 18—served a seven month deployment in Iraq as part of Britain’s Royal Anglian Regiment (1^st Battalion), one of only ten women in the Regiment. Cpl. Hodge has served in Britain’s armed forces since she left school at age 16. The UK’s Daily Mail related a part of her military service history—

While she and comrades from her unit … were taking a suspected rebel fighter back to base near Basra, their vehicle crashed. When the prisoner grabbed two rifles, Katrina wrestled them from him and restrained him with her bare hands. 'For a moment I thought I was going to die,' she says.

Her commanding officer rewarded her bravery with a commendation to go along with the Iraq Medal she received for her tour of duty, and she was promoted to corporal.

In addition to her military service, Corporal Hodge competed in beauty pageants. In July 2009, she was runner-up in the Miss England contest. Not being crowned the winner, she returned to her barracks and went back to the profession of arms. But a few months later she learned that she had a second chance at the crown, because the winner had been arrested in a Manchester nightclub on suspicion of assault (“She is alleged to have hit fellow beauty queen Sara Jones … during a row over a boyfriend.”) For another take on the incident—

The alleged attack happened during a porn-themed night in the early hours of Monday, where Miss Christie was dressed as an angel, and Miss Jones was dressed as a cavegirl. Miss Christie's spokesman said: ‘She can't go through to Miss World with this hanging over her. She is really devastated by what has been alleged but we are fully supporting her.’

But this is not a story about a porn-themed nightclub party gone bad. This is a story about a soldier who is both brave and beautiful. Back to that story….

After the winner was stripped of her crown, Corporal Hodge was asked to assume the title of Miss England and compete, representing her country, in the Miss Universe pageant that was to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa.

As the Daily Mail reported—

'I was in Army mode with no nails when I found out,' she says. 'I don't have any swimsuits or day wear. I'm going to have to run into a shop and grab every size eight dress they have.' … She was offered a modelling contract with lingerie firm La Senza this summer and wants to carry on serving in the Army for the foreseeable future - even if she ends up winning Miss World. 'I am hard-working and will make sure I can commit to the two,' she says. 'I want to break down the boundaries.'

Corporal Hodge did not win the Miss Universe pageant. But that’s not the end of her story, as the Korea Herald reported. As her reign as Miss England came to a close, she married her boyfriend (a fellow soldier) “in a secret ceremony in Sri Lanka.”

... she has now handed over her crown and is back on exercise in Army fatigues preparing for a possible tour of war-torn Afghanistan.

The married soldier … insisted she was glad to be back in the forces and ready to take on the challenge. ‘At the end of the day, it's my job. If that's what I've got to do, then that's what I've got to do,’ she said. ‘It's hard to be excited about going to Afghanistan but it's the reality of our job. Our job is be out there, protecting our country.’ [Returning to army life] involved a month on exercise and tough training to get her up to speed. ‘I'm not going to lie, it was hard to come back,’ she said.

‘It's definitely a change of lifestyle from having your hair and make-up done every day to being in your combats and having your hair scraped back. I was thrown in at the deep end and realised that this was reality.’

We’ve told you before about U.S. Army Master Sergeant (and Ranger) Mark Moran, who served six tours of duty in Southwest Asia, was awarded a Bronze Star, and who was recently named one of the top three pastry chefs in the world. We are aware that U.S. Army General George Patton competed in the 1912 Olympics, where he placed fifth in the fencing competition. We understand that our military services contain many, many outstanding individuals with an amazing range of unexpected skills and competencies. But really, this story kind of rocked our world—in a good way. We simply did not expect beauty queen and decorated soldier in the same package.

Best wishes to Corporal Hodge—“Combat Barbie”—and may she return safely from her next tour of duty to her husband and family.