Deshauna Barber, a serving U.S. Army officer and an IT analyst at the U.S. Department of Commerce, has been crowned Miss USA 2016.

Twenty-six-year-old Barber, representing the U.S. capital as Miss District of Columbia, was declared winner of the pageant ahead of runners-up Miss Georgia Emanii Davis and Miss Hawaii Chelsea Hardin in Las Vegas Sunday night.

According to her biography on the pageant’s website, Barber was commissioned as a Quartermaster Officer in 2011 and is currently a Logistics Commander for the 988th Quartermaster Detachment Unit based at Fort Meade, Maryland.

Barber, who hails from a military family — her father is a retired Army Master Sergeant who served in Iraq — told the Washington Post that she considers military service “a family tradition.” And during the interview segment of the pageant, she praised the U.S. for opening all combat roles to women.

“I think it was an amazing job by our government to allow women to integrate to every branch of the military,” she said. “As a commander of my unit, I am powerful. I am dedicated. And it is important that we recognize that gender does not limit us in the United States Army.”

Get The Brief. Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. Please enter a valid email address. Sign Up Now Check the box if you do not wish to receive promotional offers via email from TIME. You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Thank you! For your security, we've sent a confirmation email to the address you entered. Click the link to confirm your subscription and begin receiving our newsletters. If you don't get the confirmation within 10 minutes, please check your spam folder.

Contact us at letters@time.com.