Navy veteran trades military uniform for Miss Georgia sash following heartbreaking loss

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2026 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by LSEG. Miss Georgia USA Jade Kircus shares how she went from serving as a naval officer to competing for Miss USA and why faith guided her unexpected journey. After eight years of serving her country in a Navy uniform, Jade Kircus is trading it for a pageant sash. At 36, the wife and mother of three is representing Georgia in her first-ever pageant: Miss USA. The competition takes place Aug. 27 in Miami. "To be quite honest, I've actually never considered doing pageants," the Navy veteran told Fox News Digital. "It's not that I didn't think they were wonderful, and I really admired the women who did them. I just was always in a season where I wasn't able to do them, and I'm finally in a season where I can give a hundred percent." MISS AMERICA DEFENDS PAGEANT MAKEUP AFTER SOCIAL MEDIA TROLLS TOOK AIM Miss Georgia USA’s Jade Kircus is competing in the Miss US