A former Washington Redskins Cheerleader, she was commissioned as an officer in the Navy Nurse Corps after graduating from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 2005. She started out on a Surgical/OIF/OEF injury ward at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland from 2005 to 2007, then switched to the multi-service Intensive Care Unit for the next two years. In spring 2008 she was deployed for 8 months with a Forward Surgical Resuscitation Team (FST) to the Uruzgan Province of Afghanistan in Tarin Kowt as an Individual Augmentee supporting Army Special Forces and the Joint Special Operations Task Force.
