The first female nurse to complete the Army's prestigious Ranger Course is a US Army captain.
According to US Army Capt. Molly Murphy, the first day of the demanding Ranger Course was the hardest.
She told CNN, "The night before, I didn't sleep at all because I was so scared, way in over my head."
Murphy became the first female Army nurse to graduate from Ranger School on July 19. She works at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland as a pediatric intensive care unit nurse.
Students "train to exhaustion," performing strenuous physical and mental workouts throughout three intensive phases that take them from the mountainous terrain of Georgia to the marshy surroundings in Florida, over the course of about 60 days at the school the Army trumpets as its "toughest course."
Since the first female graduate of the US Army Ranger Course, better known as Ranger School, in 2015, 143 women had graduated as of Wednesday, the Army said CNN. Murphy's feat is even more remarkable considering that the bulk of her classmates at Ranger School served in combat, although her experience in nursing was quite different.
Murphy laughed as he said, "I was like, 'I did these tactics eight years ago at ROTC, and I thought I would never hear the word "ambush" ever again, I'm completely lost. But like any critical care nurse, I'm a type-A personality and an excellent note taker. I was simply jotting down anything that people said, and the boys would look through my ridiculous notebook whenever they were acting frightened.
Just two years after women were allowed to serve in numerous combat jobs in the military, Capt. Kristen Griest and 1st The first female Ranger School graduate was Lt. Shaye Haver. Then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter declared in December 2015 that he was opening up the nearly 220,000 military positions that were exclusively for men to be filled by women, including some in special operations, just months after they graduated.
Women in special operations are "not a nice to have, it's a must," according to US Army Special Operations Command Commander Lt. Gen. Jonathan Braga, who made this statement last year.
"When it comes to the defense of our country, not only within the Army but on a larger scale, we need everyone, even if you only consider the United States' safety and the most serious dangers we face today. It's essential to our goal," he declared.
Murphy told CNN that the benefits that women can offer are obvious. She was particularly good at the combat methods training that involved operating commands, which are directives from unit commanders to subordinate units detailing the assignment they are doing. As a result, she would handle the majority of that work while her teammates managed to get a little more rest.
She stated that the "complementary nature" of men and women working together is what made them such a successful team.
"Staying in touch with the boys"
Murphy claimed that her path to Ranger School started when she was a young child. Her father, a National Guard member, raised her and her two brothers after their mother perished in an accident while she was a little child. She claimed that she had spent her entire life "keeping up with the boys," competing and making a name for herself.
Her father urged her to serve as an officer in order to help pay for her education, which further motivated her to enroll in the University of Nebraska's ROTC program.
From then on, she kept getting better. She completed the Army's Air Assault and Jungle Schools while working as a nurse at Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii. After completing the latter, a teammate urged her to enroll in Ranger School for the first time.
"Oh my goodness, that's crazy!" Murphy remembered stating, "Jungle School is the furthest I'll ever go. A girl like me, I'm a nurse."
She was reminded to think about it once more when competing in the Army's Best Medic Competition last year, which assesses candidates on a variety of skills in addition to medical knowledge, including physical stamina, endurance, and land navigation. She claimed that because she was one of only two women present, more senior commanders frequently discussed her career with her. She mentioned that even though she didn't win, she was advised by several colonels that she "needed to go to Ranger School" after seeing her compete. She even went so far as to ask her leadership in Hawaii to send her.
She joked to CNN that knowing she would have to shave her head was the major reason she was hesitant. However, her old Jungle School training partner started assisting her a few months later.
Ranger School's initial part, known as the Darby part, emphasizes both mental and physical endurance. It involves foot marches, ground patrols, physical exams, and peer reviews that must be favorable. The Army estimates that half of the pupils will drop out during this time.
Students at Ranger School frequently recycle, or go through the same phases again. Murphy was initially one of them; she had to go through Darby Phase again. She started out at a disadvantage because she hadn't trained in combat arms like her friends, but she devoted all of her time to researching and training over the ten days that separated her successful repetition of the Darby Phase.
Soldiers go to the second phase, known as Mountain Phase, in a matter of hours after finishing the first. There, they receive training in platoon leadership and combat patrol operations across difficult terrain, emphasizing the "stamina and commitment of the Ranger student to the maximum," according to the Army.
Lastly, during "a fast paced, highly stressful, challenging field exercise," students in the Florida Phase execute 10-day patrols as part of their continued training in leading small units during activities including airborne and dismounted patrol operations.
Murphy acknowledged that her lack of medical expertise was surprising, but she felt that her background as a nurse had given her distinct preparation. She claimed that needing to be "100% sharp at all times, because someone's life is in your hands," as well as spending 12 hours a day on her feet and frequently missing meals, gave her an advantage.
Murphy had to withdraw from the tournament during the last two days in order to undergo surgery at a Florida hospital due to an infection in her foot that was getting worse. After that, she returned to Georgia for her graduation, but the day before, she was admitted to the hospital once more due to pain. Her doctors finally gave in to her pleas and sent her on crutches with nerve blocks to try to lessen the discomfort so she could attend the graduation.
"Seeing so many of my battalion's members show there made me very happy. She remarked, "It's just so exciting to be able to celebrate with them, that we were all able to pull each other there," highlighting again how important it was to be able to rely on one another at any point along the process.
Returning to her nursing career, she now feels that her greatest learning experience was in leadership, namely in the ability to persevere in the face of turmoil.
"My objective was to see if I could stay optimistic during those times when you are at your lowest," she said. It is so hard to lead in an environment where everyone is starving and tired." And I wish to educate others on the idea that growth occurs most naturally during adversity.
