Eagles Cheerleader Rachel Washburn To Be Honored For Military Service

Former Philadelphia Eagles cheerleader Rachel Washburn will be honored tonight before the game at Lincoln Financial Field as a hometown hero for her military service.

Washburn, 25, was a member of the NFL team’s cheerleading squad from 2007 to 2010. She is now a first lieutenant in the US Army with two tours of duty in Afghanistan and currently stationed in Fort Stewart, Ga. She has earned the Bronze Star, the Army Commendation Meal, and Combat, Airborne, and Air Assault badges. Washburn is also considering re-enlisting when her hitch is up next year.

Washburn, whose father was in the military and as such the family moved a lot, was a cheerleader for the Eagles while attending Drexel University in Philadelphia on an Army ROTC scholarship.

According to the Eagles’ Hometown Heroes website, her resume includes the following:

“Lieutenant Washburn was an Eagles Cheerleader from 2007-2010 and recently returned from her 2nd tour in Afghanistan, where she was deployed to the dangerous Logar Provence. During her tour, she served as a Platoon Leader for a Multi-sensor Ground intelligence platoon with the 3rd Infantry Division, and earned numerous honors, including the Bronze Star Medal. She was also one of the first female soldiers in the Army’s competitive Cultural Support Team, attached to Special-operations combat forces such as the Army Green Berets, Rangers, and Navy SEALs.”

Part of her role in the Cultural Support Team is apparently to develop better relationships with Afghan women. “I was always seen as somebody they could relate to and not this American imposter who brings my values to that country,” Washburn said. On her first tour of duty, she helped deliver a baby in a remote village during a snowstorm while receiving instructions from Army medics over the radio.

Washing put her cheerleading experience to use during basic training, according to CNN: “Washburn… said she learned during her Army training to think of a happy place when confronted by stress. For that, she liked to think of her first game as an Eagles cheerleader. It was a beautiful August day and she was lined up for the pregame dance. It is one of her best memories..”

More information on former Eagles cheerleader Rachel Washburn is in this ABC News video: