National Guard soldiers all learn to move from the civilian
world to the military world and back again.
It is the nature of citizen soldiers to adapt and make that change. But some soldiers make a much bigger change
than others.
On drill weekends, Pvt. 1st Class Karissa
Grossman is logistics specialist with Charlie Company, 2-104th
General Support Aviation Battalion, Johnstown, Pa. During the week, Grossman is a full-time Army
technician working as a tool and parts attendant at the Aviation facility in
Johnstown. Recently she has been serving
as the Hazmat coordinator for the facility while the technician who normally
holds that job is deployed to Afghanistan.
In addition to her work as a Soldier and technician,
Grossman has another uniform. This
uniform has a sash and the headgear is a crown.
Karissa Grossman is currently Miss East Coast after winning her region
in the America’s Miss Pageant earlier this year. In July, she will be competing
against women from around the country in the America’s Miss Pageant in
Maryland.
Grossman wanted to fly and to be Miss America for much of
her life and she is on track to realize both of her dreams.
“I joined the National Guard because I’ve always wanted to
fly,” said Grossman. “I looked into
different branches and saw the National Guard Warrant Officer Program would let
me go to flight school and the Army would pay for my schooling on top of that.
Right now I'm working on my flight packet.”
Born in Kings Park, Long Island, New York, Grossman’s family
moved to Johnstown when she was in the third grade. She said moving to a new place is difficult,
but she has done very well in Western Pennsylvania. Grossman went to Johnstown High School where
she graduated at the top of her class.
She was also elected class President, President of the Key Club, and President
of the National Honor Society.
During high school she also modeled, competed in beauty
pageants and threw the javelin for the track team. “My dad served in the National Guard in the
1970s,” Grossman said. “He did his six
years as a Cobra mechanic in the New York National Guard. He is the only one who served in the military
in my family.”
“Everyone was shocked when I joined,” she said. “I modeled. I entered pageants I was not the
kind of person they expected to join the military. I told everyone I wanted to fly and I did not
want to be in debt for the rest of my life because of something I wanted to do.”
As she simultaneously works toward completing a bachelors
degree and the requirements for flight school, serving in the Guard, working as
a technician, and competing in higher level pageants she integrates her many
roles in her pageant platform.
“When I compete in pageants I have a platform,” she
said. The platform is the issue that she
will bring attention to in her public appearances. “I am very big on women's rights,” Grossman
said.
“When I speak at schools sometimes it will come up that I am
in the Army,” she said. “Right away, the kids will ask what's that like being
in the Army. And the little boys who
thought I was just a girl and had “cooties” suddenly get interested in what I
am saying.”
Grossman said the Army and pageants are two different worlds.
“I go from wearing camouflage and being
relaxed to being all dolled up and appearing in front of a large audience. Sometimes the transition is difficult and
people wonder how I can do it.” She
admits it is not always easy to transition from standing at parade rest while talking
to someone in the military to having people at a pageant crowd around her for
autographs and pictures.
She makes the transition among the various roles in her life
smoothly most of the time, but not always.
“I come to work in my army uniform and then right after work I have an
appearance as America's Miss in my sash and crown,” she said. “Sometimes I will walk into a building and
try to take off my crown off like it's my army headgear.”
Her plans are moving forward on parallel tracks. The next step in her Army career is going
before a Warrant Officer board prior to flight school. Then, in July she will compete at the next
level of America’s Miss and if she wins that pageant, flight school could be
delayed during her reign as America’s Miss.
At the same time she will continue to pursue her college degree. Eventually she will add a tasseled
mortarboard and an Army flight helmet to her choice of headgear to go with the
crown and the patrol cap she wears now.
