Army Reserve 310th ESC Soldier crowned 1st Attendant at Ms. Veteran America Competition

Photo By Maj. Sean Delpech | Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Andrea Waterbury (center), Kerri Turner (left), chosen Ms. Veteran America, and Rachel Engler, (right), 2nd Attendant, at the 2015 Ms. Veteran America Competition in Las Vegas. The pageant benefits charitable organizations that work to provide safe transition housing to homeless women veterans and children. (Photo by Brian D. Engler)  

LAS VEGAS, NV, UNITED STATES

10.18.2015

Courtesy Story

310th Expeditionary Sustainment Command

Story by Army Staff Sgt. Leif C. Palland
758th OD CO, 310th ESC

LAS VEGAS – Army Reserve Staff. Sgt. Andrea Waterbury loves a challenge.

Tackling challenges has led Waterbury into life as a mother of four, a career in education, years of service in the Army Reserve and most recently, entering and winning 1st Attendant out of over 200 women service members and veterans.

Waterbury, an Army Reserve Soldier of the 758th Maintenance Company, 718th Transportation Battalion, 643rd Regional Support Group, 310th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) competed in the Ms. Veteran America Competition in Las Vegas, Nevada, Oct. 18, 2015.

Six hundred women veterans initially entered the 2015 annual contest. The next round featured 200 competitors in a series of regional events. Sgt. Waterbury advanced from this round on May 31, 2015, at the Las Vegas Regional.

Waterbury learned in September that she had made it to the top 25 candidates in the pageant, and then to the top 10.

Then, at the competition finals of the Ms. Veteran America Competition at the University of Las Vegas on Oct. 18, 2015, Waterbury placed as the first runner-up, or 1st Attendant.

Each contestant at the Las Vegas segment of the competition was judged on their military history and advocacy work. The contestants also completed an interview, and a talent competition, where they performed a dance routine.

The competition benefits Final Salute Inc., a charitable organization that works to provide safe transition housing to homeless women veterans. “A few of the people I deployed with in my old unit told me about the work they were doing for women veterans, and it was something I definitely wanted to get into,” said Waterbury. “As a mom and a veteran, that’s something I can really get behind.”

In her civilian life, Waterbury is a mother of four, and works as a librarian and assistant track coach at Chillicothe High School, Ohio. Originally enlisting in 2001, Waterbury has been assigned to the 758th Maintenance Company in Whitehall, Ohio, since 2009.
Waterbury recently traveled to Washington, D.C., to help put together and distribute care packages to veterans at Fisher House VA Medical Center on Veterans Day 2015.

She will be performing similar advocacy work throughout 2016 to continue to bring awareness to the issues facing homeless women Veterans.

• Date Taken: 10.18.2015
• Date Posted: 12.22.2015 11:47
• Story ID: 185148
• Location: LAS VEGAS, NV, US
• Hometown: CHILLICOTHE, OH, US
• Hometown: WHITEHALL, OH, US