( CNN ) -- Rachel Washburn once carried pompoms . Now she carries an M4 carbine . The military brat who became an NFL cheerleader is today a first lieutenant in the United States Army . On Sunday , she was honored as a Hometown Hero by the Philadelphia Eagles , the team she cheered for from 2007 to 2009 . The Bronze Star recipient served two tours of duty in Afghanistan , including one as a member of the Army 's new Cultural Support Program . It was a dangerous and stressful job , where she would go on missions with special operations forces and help search and talk to Afghan women and children . `` We could be their voice during missions for engagement to ensure security on objectives , and we could help search and secure the females and the children during missions , '' she told the Philadelphia Eagles website . Spoken like a true soldier -- which is not surprising given her father , Lon , served many years in the Army and Air Force as a pilot . Rachel Washburn , 25 , 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 , she said . She also recalled fondly her trips to hospitals in Philadelphia and a USO trip to Iraq . Cheerleading is more than just dancing on the sideline and looking pretty , she said . `` We 're all beautiful women who are there to be entertaining at games , but also , we are incredibly involved in the community , which is something that I am incredibly proud of , '' she told the Eagles . Washburn is not a Philly native . She said she is `` from a little bit of everywhere '' after having moved at least a dozen times while growing up . But she loved Philadelphia from her visits there and applied for an Army ROTC scholarship at Drexel University . She also joined the dance team . Her next steps took her to tryouts for the Eagles cheerleading squad . She made the team on her first try . After she graduated , Washburn joined the Army and went to Afghanistan , where near the end of her first tour she helped deliver a baby during a snowstorm while communicating with medical personnel by radio . She told USA Today that during her second tour she was a platoon leader of an intelligence unit . She is considering re-enlisting next year , she told the paper . Her father nominated her for the Eagles honor . `` I watched her go through two tours in Afghanistan and all of the things that she sacrificed , '' he said . `` It was not a very easy couple of tours and I just really kind of thought , 'Man , what a homecoming that would be if ( the Eagles ) recognized her for that . ' '' She returned from Afghanistan in November and is stationed at Fort Stewart in Georgia .
Rachel Washburn grew up with a military father and moved many times . She went to college in Philadelphia on an ROTC scholarship . She cheered for the Eagles for three seasons . A Bronze Star recipient , she served two tours in Afghanistan .