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Purple Heart recipient completes third tour in Iraq

By TYLER GASKILL
Courier Sports Editor

After 11 years in the Army National Guard and three tours in Iraq, Cpl. Patrick Murphy, Oxford, still loves an adrenaline rush.

Patrick, a self-proclaimed "adrenaline junkie," recently returned from his third tour in Iraq. And if the war is still under way when he is eligible to go back, he says he will probably return for a fourth tour.

That isn't exactly what his wife, Courtney, wants to hear, but she says she will continue to support her husband no matter what.

The couple's 10-year-old son, Austin, and eight-year-old daughter, Kerry, also hope their dad is home for good.

"You're not going back," Austin says to his father. "We've got the ball and chain ready, Dad."

Patrick began his military career on Jan. 27, 1997, joining the Kansas Army National Guard just eight months after graduating from Winfield High School.

"It seemed like the right thing to do at the time," says Patrick, citing generations of his family that had served in the military.

Patrick and Courtney started dating six moths after Patrick returned from boot camp, and he made it clear that he thought the chances of his getting deployed overseas were pretty good.

"I told her that I was going someplace sometime in my career, and if she couldn't handle it, it was time to say goodbye," Patrick says.

"She said she could, and now we're here."

A little over a month before their marriage, Patrick and Courtney sat at home watching in disbelief the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

Patrick's unit was placed on standby. His gear was packed and ready to go. At that point, it was a waiting game.

The time passed, and Patrick and Courtney married Oct. 20, 2001, still without word on whether Patrick would be staying or going.

It would be a little over a year before Patrick and his family would find out that he was going to Iraq.

Dec. 26, 2002, is a date that will stick in the minds of Patrick and Courtney for the rest of their lives.

That was the day they found out Patrick would be heading to Kuwait with his unit, the 226th Engineering Company out of Winfield and Augusta.

Patrick was given one week from the day he was notified to say his goodbyes before leaving for training.

"It was a whirlwind," says Courtney. "I didn't have a lot of time to think."

The family held a farewell gathering for Patrick on New Year's Eve. He left for training at Fort Riley on Jan. 2, 2003.

Following training, his unit flew to Kuwait. Their mission was to place a fuel pipeline from Kuwait City to Camp Adder near Al-Nasiriyah, Iraq, a suburb of western Baghdad.

"It was chaotic," Patrick says of his arrival in Kuwait. "We were dumping a massive amount of troops into a small area.

"Once everything got straightened out, it ran pretty good, considering how big the operation was."

His unit was learning to work with active duty troops who were trained differently than his unit had been trained.

Adding to the challenge were the living conditions.

Patrick's unit was living in tents with little shelter from the weather. At one point, he went 68 days without a shower and without a clean change of clothes.

Communication with his family during his first tour was pretty much impossible, with the exception of writing letters.

"Trying to find a phone was nearly impossible," Patrick says, "and even if you did, there was a six to eight hour wait."

Often, Patrick and his family would wait from two to six weeks for letters to get back and forth from Kuwait to Oxford.

One of the members of Patrick's unit had a cell phone that made international calls from Kuwait, but it was a challenge finding a signal strong enough to make calls.

When he could, Patrick would use the phone to call his family, but it was a rare treat.

"Phone calls were few and far between," says Courtney.

Patrick's unit completed their mission and prepared for their return stateside. His unit landed at Forbes Field in Topeka on July 4, 2003.

In August 2005, Patrick was called in for training to return to Iraq.

Patrick says he could have gotten out of going back, but he was looking forward to it.

After completing his training, he returned to Iraq with the Second Battalion of the 37th Infantry Division, Charlie Company, out of Wichita, with a mission to provide security at bases and patrol nearby areas.

Conditions in Iraq had improved since Patrick's first tour. Access to communications had been restored, utilities had been repaired and a lot more vehicles were moving.

"People seemed to be more confident that they could move around and roam freely," Patrick says.

The conditions were better for the people of Iraq but posed more danger to the troops.

Previously, troops were on the lookout for uniformed militants who were easy to spot. Now the troops were going after insurgents dressed like everyone else on the street.

Communication options and living conditions for the troops were better than they had been on the first tour.

Patrick was able to call his family more often from a call center located near his base or by using a cell phone he purchased in Iraq.

He also purchased a laptop while serving his second tour, giving him access to e-mail and instant messaging programs.

Patrick's unit was living in old Republican Guard barracks that had been taken over by troops.

Each member of Patrick's unit had their own cubicle to live in, complete with Internet access. Across the road were phones and a gym.

"Our living conditions were 100 percent better," says Patrick.

In providing security to nearby communities, Patrick's unit helped the Iraqi people get back to a sense of normalcy. Shops began opening up and traffic started to increase.

"There were only one or two shops that were open consistently when we got there because they didn't feel safe enough to be running (their shops)," Patrick says.

"By the time we left, there were probably 14 of them going."

The Iraqis were even comfortable enough with the troops that they would alert them when insurgents were threatening them, telling them not to run their businesses.

"One of our highlights was that our presence out there was enough to allow them to progress and carry on their daily lives," Patrick says.

After completing their mission, Patrick's unit headed home. They arrived in Topeka on Nov. 9, 2006.

Before coming home, Patrick learned of an upcoming mission through two of his friends in the National Guard, and they planned on going.

At this point, Patrick wasn't planning on going. The kids wanted him to stay home, and his wife wasn't exactly thrilled with the thought of his going back.

At the same time, she knew if his friends were hurt or killed in Iraq, Patrick wouldn't be able to live with himself.

It was the thought of his friends returning to Iraq without him that finally convinced Patrick to sign up for his third tour of duty.

"It wore on me that a good friend of mine was going," Patrick says, "and I didn't trust anybody there that I knew was going" to keep him safe.

After weighing the pros and cons, Patrick and Courtney decided he would go.

Patrick then found out that the buddy he was going for wouldn't be going after all.

Once again, Patrick and Courtney talked it over and decided it would be better in the long run if he were to go.

Patrick left for Fort Dix, N.J., on Jan. 10, 2007. There he joined the 731st Transportation Company in training for the mission.

Following training at Fort Dix, Patrick's unit flew to Kuwait on Feb. 4, 2007.

Patrick returned to Camp Adder near Al-Nasiriyah, where he hadn't been since his first tour in 2003.

Patrick's unit was in charge of convoy escort, picking up supplies in the south and bringing them north.

On July 18, 2007, five months into his third tour in Iraq, Patrick encountered every soldier's nightmare: an IED, or improvised explosive device.

Patrick was in the gunner seat of a Humvee when the truck drove over a "crush wire" that detonated the bomb. The bomb detonated five feet from Patrick's seat on the truck.

Patrick composed himself after the bomb went off and tried to assess the situation. He began feeling dizzy and started swaying back and forth, so the truck commander called for a medic.

Patrick was taken to a troop medical center to be treated for a concussion.

At 6:47 on the morning of July 19, Courtney received a phone call. When she saw the number on her caller ID, she thought it was Patrick.

Instead, it was a military official telling her of Patrick's injury.

The man told Courtney that Patrick had a concussion and that she may have to fly out to Germany if he were transported there.

Courtney didn't know what to think. "At that point, I quit breathing," Courtney says.

After making several calls over three hours, Courtney found out that Patrick's injuries were not life-threatening and that she wouldn't need to go to Germany.

Patrick was told he would have to rest up and couldn't be back on the road for one to two weeks.

After realizing that he could jeopardize others' lives if he were to go back to work right away, he reluctantly agreed to wait it out.

Patrick was placed on leave the first two weeks of August, which gave him an opportunity to come home to Kansas and rest with his family.

While on leave, he faced a new challenge from his experience in Iraq.

On the way to the fair in Caldwell, Patrick saw a traffic counter laid across the highway and thought of the trip wire that his Humvee had run over in Iraq.

"I was relaxed, looking out the windows, talking and everything else," says Patrick, "and I saw that and instantly tensed up."

"He was getting ready for it to go off when I ran over it," Courtney says, "and of course I didn't think anything of it.

"That's something that I've had to try to learn is that when I see things, to bring it to his attention."

Patrick has since gotten to the point that he doesn't physically react to objects that resemble items that pose a threat in the war zone, but he continues to notice them.

It is something that Patrick and his family have dealt with since the IED was detonated in July, and it may or may not be something they have to deal with the rest of their lives, according to Patrick.

Patrick returned to Iraq mid-August to finish the mission with his unit.

On Jan. 21, he was awarded the Purple Heart for the injuries he sustained in the July IED blast.

The Purple Heart was one of a long list of awards Patrick has earned during his military career. His other honors include: The Army Commendation Medal, two Army Achievement Medals, Meritorious Unit Commendation, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Global War On Terrorism Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Army Service Ribbon, three Overseas Service Ribbons, three Armed Forces Reserve Medals with "M" device, Combat Action Badge and a Driver and Mechanic Badge with Driver of a Wheeled Vehicle Clasp.

Patrick helped to train the unit that would replace his unit, then came back stateside earlier this month.

The 731st Transportation Company returned to Wichita on Feb. 7. There they were reunited with their families in the Concert Hall at Century II.

At the time, neither Patrick nor his family could believe that he was actually home for a while.

When asked how she feels about her dad finally coming home, Kerry quickly replies, "Awesome!"

According to Patrick, the Kansas adjutant general has ordered that no Kansas Army National Guard troops will be asked to return to Iraq for two years, and they will not be allowed to voluntarily return for at least one year.

With three tours in Iraq behind him, Patrick looks back to reflect on his time there, and sees what he has done to enrich the lives of others through his work in the National Guard.

"Iraq has changed a lot since I've been there. Small businesses are starting up, people are actually looking at opportunities to work and there's more housing," Patrick says.

"They're getting back to what life should have been for them all along.

"Your family suffers a little bit in all this, but hopefully, in the long run, this place gets to be good enough that neither one of my kids gotta worry about going back there to fight."

Above: Col. Charles Flynn, right, commanding officer of the 82nd Airborne Division, presents a certificate and Purple Heart Award to Cpl. Patrick Murphy of the Kansas Army National Guard on Jan. 21 in Iraq.