Tattooed Sergeant goes for Miss America [View all]

[TheDeputy]

http://www.people.com/people/mobile/article/0,,20732653,00.html]

The Miss America Pageant won't know what hit it when it lays eyes on Miss Kansas, Sgt. Theresa Vail.

Once the competition's preliminaries begin in Atlantic City, N.J., on Tuesday, Sept. 10, Vail will be the second contestant in the military to compete (Miss Utah 2007 was a combat medic in the Army National Guard).

But when she struts down Boardwalk Hall in her bikini, she'll be breaking a long-standing taboo with her two giant tattoos – the insignia for the U.S. Army Dental Corps on her left shoulder and the Serenity Prayer running down her right side.

"Why am I choosing to bear my tattoos?" Vail says. "My whole platform is empowering women to overcome stereotypes and break barriers. What a hypocrite I would be if I covered my ink. How can I tell other women to be fearless and true to themselves if I can't do the same? I am who I am, tattoos and all."