Combat Barbie Revisited

Cat fight? Kat fight?  Must be something funny in there somewhere.

In any case, revisiting a story from September, Katrina Hodge (right), aka Combat Barbie, is temporarily taking leave of her duties as Lance Corporal to take over the duties of Miss England.

Rachel Christie (below), pentathlete, niece of Linford Christie, and original winner of the 2009 Miss England competition has resigned her title after being arrested (rather ironically, given Hodge's profession) for getting in a fight over a boy (David McIntosh, aka Tornado) with Miss Manchester (Sara Beverly Jones) in a previously-thought-to-be upscale British pub in Manchester.

Miss England put out this statement:

The Director of Miss England Ltd. Angie Beasley would like to announce that Lance Corporal Katrina Hodge is the new Miss England.

Katrina has been given leave from her duties as a soldier in the British Army to represent England in the Miss World Final to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa on Saturday, 12th December, 2009.

Katrina was the first runner up in this year’s prestigious competition and has been awarded the title of Miss England, following the stepping down of the original title-holder, Rachel Christie.

Following her success in the Miss England competition, Katrina was selected by lingerie retailer La Senza to front their Armed Forces campaign.

There are quotes from all over, from Christie, from McIntosh, from Miss England, and La Senza is, of course, about to bust a bra strap, but nothing from Hodge. If anyone knows how she feels about taking over tiara drop me a line.

Sources:
News:lite (photo)
The Sun (photo)
Miss England
Winnipeg Sun
Wikipedia

Lara Croft, Meet Combat Barbie

And now, swinging about as far away from our Ramadan story as we possibly can (variety is the spice of life), we now take you to the 2009 Miss England competition.

Runner-up Katrina Hodge - aka: Combat Barbie - is a Lance Corporal in the British Military. Although currently serving as a Military Clerk with the Adjutant General Corps, in 2005 she won a commendation for bravery while on tour in Iraq. Trained as a female searcher, she was on an operation in Basra with The Royal Anglian Regiment. They were transporting a prisoner when their vehicle rolled over three times. When she came around the truck the prisoner had to rifles pointed at her compatriots. Taking a page from Lara Croft (or Xena, or your favorite paramilitary vixen), she smacked - punched, not kissed - the suspect and disarmed him.

I smell video game.

In the talent portion of the Miss England competition she performed a rifle drill.

After losing out in the final to Rachel Christie (niece of Olympic champion Linford Christie), she is salving her wounds by becoming a lingerie model for La Senza. La Senza, for its part, will offer a 15% discount to members of the Armed Forces.

For those of you who are interested, here is her official Miss England Bio.

Sources:
The Sun (via Fark)
Mienfoks
Ministry of Defence News (via The Old Coot)
BBC
Daily Mail
La Senza
Miss England