I Got The News Today (IGTNT) is one of the oldest continuous series on Daily Kos. It is a way for our community to pay respect to those who have died while in service to our nation.
Army Specialist Etienne J. Murphy
Etienne J. Murphy was born in Boston in May of 1995 and raised in Brockton, Massachusetts where he attended Brookfield Elementary. He moved to Georgia as a teenager when his father retired from the Boston Fire Department. After becoming one of the first members of South Gwinett High School’s JROTC, he met his future wife, Martha.
Murphy was living in Snellville, Georgia when he enlisted in the U.S. Army in June of 2013. He and Martha married three years ago and they have two children. After training at Fort Benning, Georgia, he served in 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, which is part of the 10th Mountain Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team based at Fort Drum, New York.
In October 2015, Murphy volunteered to serve in the 75th Ranger Regiment. He successfully completed airborne school and Ranger Assessment and Selection Program 1. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, where he served as an anti-tank gunner.
In mid-May of this year, Murphy started on his first overseas deployment. He was in Syria, serving as an infantryman and assigned to B Company, 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, at Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia. He had recently turned 22, and was only five days into his deployment when his parents heard a knock on their door. This is from the Boston Herald:
Spc. Etienne J. Murphy’s father, Calvin, said his son was constantly playing with toy Army men as a child and recalled how he excited he was to join the JROTC in high school in the hopes of making his lifelong dream of becoming an Army Ranger a reality.
It was just five days into Etienne’s first deployment, Calvin Murphy said, that he learned his son had lost his life in what the military described as a “non-tactical vehicle roll-over” in northern Syria.
“He’s only been there five days and we get the dag-gone knock on the door,” Calvin Murphy told the Herald yesterday. “I peeked out the blinds; I peeked out and I knew right away something was wrong with my son, and my wife just fell to the floor.”
Specialist Murphy's awards and decorations include the Parachutist Badge, Army Achievement Medal with 3 OLC, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, NATO Medal, and Operation Inherent Resolve Campaign Medal with Campaign Star. He was posthumously awarded the Army Commendation Medal.
Among those who survive Specialist Murphy is his wife, his sons 2-year-old Noah and 3-month-old Isaac and his parents. Services will be held in Atlanta.
******************************************************************
Helping our troops:
If you wish to assist our military and their families, consider contributing to Fisher House. To assist the animal companions of our deployed military, information is available here.
When our veterans come back home, they need jobs. Look at the programs of Hire Heroes USA and Welcome Back Veterans to see if you can help out.
About the IGTNT series:
”I Got the News Today” is a diary series intended to honor, respect, and remember the fallen, and to remind us that each casualty has family and friends who received the terrible news that their loved one has died. US service members whose names have been released by the US Department of Defense will usually be diarized two days or so after the official announcement on the DoD website. This allows the IGTNT team to cover each person more fully, but still in a timely manner. Click the #IGTNT tag to see previous diaries in the series, which was begun by i dunno, and is maintained by i dunno, Sandy on Signal, Monkeybiz, Noweasels, Blue Jersey Mom, Chacounne, twilight falling, SisTwo, Spam Nunn, True Blue Majority, CalNM, Wide Awake in Kentucky, maggiejean, Jax Dem, The Fat Lady Sings, Ekaterin, & Joy of Fishes. These diaries are heartbreaking to write, but show our community’s respect for those who have died.
|
Please bear in mind that these diaries are read by friends and family of the service members mentioned here. May all of our remembrances be full of compassion rather than politics.