Veteran armed for pageant with 5-inch spikes

She's blonde, willowy and trained to kill.

But these days, Army veteran Misti Vogt, Miss Montana USA 2009, strikes fear into pageant competitors with her megawatt smile and to-die-for 5-foot, 10 3/4-inch body.

Vogt, 23, of Bigfork, credits the military with giving her the maturity and focus to study biomedical engineering and to compete in the Miss Montana USA pageant. She entered hoping to serve as a role model and ambassador for the state and potentially the United States.

She was thrilled but not shocked when she won the state crown on Sept. 7, 2008.

"I knew I had the life experience and education to adequately prepare me," she said.

Vogt served in the Army for almost four years, receiving and processing intelligence from overseas at a fort in Arizona. She said service was a positive in her life but cautions others to make an educated decision about joining.

"Don't enlist on a whim," she said. "You need to be mentally ready for the things you'll see and the responsibilities you'll have."

Her days as a G.I. continue to pay dividends to Vogt as she prepares for the national pageant and makes appearances as Miss Montana USA at events such as Special Olympics, parades and schools where she talks about bullying.

"It's very similar to the military - the discipline involved with being a title holder and keeping schedules," she said. "There's a time and place for everything."

With the Miss USA contest beckoning on April 19, Vogt put her engineering studies at Flathead Valley Community College on hold for the spring semester to work her battle plan for bagging the Miss USA title. She faces daunting odds, considering the finalist fate of Montana competitors over the 58-year history of the Miss USA pageant.

"Miss Montana USA hasn't been in the top 15 for 51 years," Vogt said.

Treasure State competitors won the hearts of many with three Miss Congeniality titles - but never the crown. But Vogt has every confidence that her months of training added to her natural assets may break the half-century losing streak.

Her strategy targets the three prongs of the competition: fitness and swimsuit, evening gown and poise, and personality and interview. Vogt considers interviewing her strong suit.

For talking points, she may draw on volunteering for Special Olympics or her aspirations of designing better prosthetics for wounded warriors. Instead of wishing for world peace, Vogt speaks of following Gandhi's ideal: "We must be the change we wish to see in the world."

For the other pageant segments, Vogt started with venturing out of sportswear and comfy shoes into the high-heeled uniform of a femme fatale.

"I was a professional snowboard instructor," Vogt said with a laugh. "I definitely had to remove myself from that comfort zone."

Think it's easy to swish confidently across a stage on teetering spike heels? A woman who learned to dodge bullets, crawl over obstacles and shoot a combat rifle knows about tough training.

"Wearing high heels - a little over five inches on a platform - was a very difficult challenge for me," she said. "Now I love my heels. I wear them six out of seven days a week."

After scrutinizing videos of her Miss Montana USA pageant performance, Vogt added more slink and attitude to her walk to show off slim hips and long legs that might turn Barbie green with envy.

To turn up the wattage on her smile, Vogt met with Dr. Dean Calderwood at the Family Dental Center in Columbia Falls who became one of her sponsors. He perfected her smile with super-thin veneers applied to the outside of her teeth.

She said the dental staff became like family and she loved the results, achieved in just two hours without anesthetic.

"I think you have more confidence with a big, flashy wonderful smile," Vogt said.

Phil Jackson, a personal trainer at The Summit, guided her fitness routine. It includes an hour daily workout light on aerobics but heavy on strength training, designed to build muscle rather than lose weight.

It worked.

"I feel as though I'm ready to be on HDTV in a Jessica Simpson swimsuit in front of eight million people," she said.

Vogt left last week for a speaking engagement and then a trip to Los Angeles for a final fitting of her pageant wardrobe. She travels to Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas on April 3 for 16 days of competition.

Along with a new "green" crown of manmade diamonds, the winner receives a two-year scholarship to study theater and performance at the New York Film Academy, a salary and a luxurious New York City apartment during her reign.

"That's one place I've never been and always wanted to go," Vogt said. "You also get to represent the U.S. at the Miss Universe pageant in the Bahamas."

The final night of the Miss USA competition airs live April 19 on NBC at 7 p.m. Eastern time. Earlier preliminary rounds stream live at NBC.com.

Vogt offers up the enticement of her evening gown that she describes as amazing but, drawing on her intelligence training, she divulges not one detail.

"It's nothing like anyone has seen in the pageant before," Vogt said. "You'll just have to tune in to see it."

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.