Dressed in a pink, plaid romper with a pink and white rose tucked behind her ear, Olivia Nunn posed on the beach and leaned against a surfboard.
She is Miss June 2025 for a calendar that has each month featuring a female military veteran dressed and styled in 1940s-era clothing. The proceeds from the calendar are used to buy rehabilitation equipment for Veterans Affairs and military hospitals across the country. The organization behind the calendar, Pin-Ups for Vets, has donated over $127,000 worth of equipment to hospitals.
As an ambassador and model for Pin-Ups for Vets, Nunn has traveled to visit with veterans seeking treatment in hospitals. Dressed in garments from a bygone era, Nunn shared how her visits to the veteran hospitals would always cheer and liven up many elderly veterans seeking treatment.
“I always would hear: ‘You look cute, aren’t you just a doll?’” Nunn said. “Or they would say, ‘You know, it would be great if they made soldiers like you,’ and I’m like, ‘Well, I was a soldier.’ They would say, ‘What do you mean you were a soldier?’ I’m like, ‘Well, I’m a retired lieutenant colonel.’”
After 20 years of service in the Army, Nunn retired in 2021. She was deployed to Iraq three times, with her first tour during the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
“We were the first units that were going in, and the last time that the Army had really deployed was during the Gulf War in 1990,” Nunn said. “So, it was not really knowing what we were getting into, and I think the fear of the unknown — not knowing if I was going to come home. Wondering what was it going to be like?”
About 7% of the population has served in the military, and 10% of these veterans are female. There are nearly 2 million living female veterans in the United States.
Whether they come from a military family or are seeking a sense of adventure, a service member’s call to serve may not always be the same. However, regardless of their branch or era of service, all veterans are bonded together by the fact that they answered the call.
Like Nunn, Monica Gupta-Abram served in the Army, retiring after 22 years of service. She was Miss June 2024 for the calendar, and she has traveled to 13 states to visit with veterans in 23 different hospitals.
“I’ve had the honor and privilege to meet individuals that have served in all major conflicts,” Gupta-Abram said. “So, we’re talking the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, and even a couple of individuals from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom over in Afghanistan. Even though we are not related by blood, we are connected in the sense that we all answer the call to serve, and so with that, we all share that common bond, and that’s what bonds us together, and it transcends through all these generations. And I think that’s really beautiful.”
The 2025 Pin-Ups For Vets calendar will feature 13 female veterans with a combined 117 years of military service in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard. These models include two Purple Heart recipients, a pilot who flew Seahawks in the Navy, and an Army lieutenant colonel who served 39 months total on three Iraq deployments.
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Shaylen Harris, who served eight years enlisted in the Army, shared how modeling for the calendar allowed her to show she could embrace her femininity while paying homage to her military service.
“It’s the very opposite from our day-to-day life. While serving in the military, you’re very on the masculine side,” Harris said. “But with the calendar, when we do business hospital visits, the veterans that we visit, they’re always so happy to see us.”