Last year, we held our inaugural Deployed vs. Stateside Ugly Sweater Contest, and it was so much fun! It all started when a Deployed Chaplain requested ugly sweaters for a holiday party. The photos we got back were so great that we decided to kick it up a notch and engage in a little friendly competition with Service Members overseas. Our staff came to work in their tackiest sweaters and then asked fans and followers to vote for their favorite. Here’s the full story and contest from last year.

This year, the competition was ON. Thanks to our Angel volunteers and a deployed Chaplain, Soldiers’ Angels staff went head-to-head with a deployed unit for the second year in a row in this festive holiday showdown!!

Angel Carol championed the effort again this year.

“I LOVE the HOLIDAYS! Last year, we had a Chaplain who did an Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest to raise morale with his group. This year, I had 3 chaplains who wanted to do this and were EXCITED! I went to my local thrift store (I’m in a small town in rural NE), and they let me look through the ugly sweaters before putting them out for sale. JACKPOT! 21 sweaters found! I took pics of some of my faves.” – Carol

We launched the competition on National Ugly Sweater Day, pairing a Deployed Service Member with a stateside staff member. For each match, the mission was to vote on your favorite sweater. We also purchased 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place trophies for the photos that got the most reactions.

And the Winner is…

By a landslide… AGAIN! Deployed!

Our top three challengers

Here are our winners with the most votes.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to vote in our 2nd Annual Stateside vs. Deployed Ugly Sweater Contest! It’s a fun way to celebrate the season and have fun with the Deployed men and women we support. In case you missed it, here’s the full album of photos.

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