International relations skills serve OTHS grad well in Iraq
By Mark Raeber
Progress Staff Writer
United States Army Captain Kevin Murphy is relying on every bit of the schooling he got in South Bend, Ind., to carry out his mission in Iraq.
The son of James and Patricia Murphy of O’Fallon, he is a 1995 graduate of O’Fallon Township High School who earned a bachelor’s degree in international relations at the University of Notre Dame in 1999.
Now he serves as commander of a Stryker troop (A Troop, 2-1 CAV out of Ft. Lewis, Wash.) stationed a Forward Operating Base Warhorse that is responsible for security in areas west and southwest of Baquba. And his work in the Diyala province northeast of Baghdad is putting his college degree to the test.
The toughest part, Murphy said, is managing all the different personalities he deals with. He regularly must negotiate among an array of sheiks, religious leaders, Iraqi police and Iraqi army commanders.
“Everyone is from a different village with a different background and you have to memorize a whole lot of names, a whole lot of backgrounds, to keep track of it all. And I want to make sure they understand that I recognize all of them when I see them,” he said.
“When you have to talk through an interpreter, it is very important that I remember peoples’ faces and names to establish a connection. And so they know I know who they are, I know where they are from and I know what their issues are,” he pointed out.
One of the major roles Murphy, 31, and his troops play in the sector they patrol is to establish a climate that allows for the creation of more effective local government.
Explaining the job, Murphy said, “Early on, the role of my troops was a lot of hunting terrorists and a lot of finding and destroying weapons caches and clearing areas. But our role has now transitioned more toward government support, plus helping out with infrastructure and humanitarian projects.
“We are helping the government get on its feet. And, at the local level, the government is doing pretty good,” he said. “Every week I meet with the Nahia, sort of a county legislature that is the primary governmental body. It is composed of the elected leaders from the villages and towns in the region. I also deal with the tribal leadership outside of the Nahia because we are bringing together reconciliation councils,” he noted.
The councils are part of a national reconciliation plan that offered amnesty to insurgents not guilty of targeting civilians; a reversal of laws that barred low-ranking former Baathist party members from reentering public life; a national reconciliation conference to includes all warring parties; and a promise to purge key government ministries of officials affiliated with Shi’a militias.
Murphy pointed out, “Now that the al-Qaeda influence has pretty much been broken in our area, the tribal leadership structure can function again. These are the bodies of men who have arbitrated disputes between people for generations. They understand how the populations interact and they can settle disputes as they have in the past.
“Those ways of doing things broke down in the years immediately following the invasion,” he explained. “We have now figured out those systems and we are tapping into them to settle disputes and to enhance the security around here so militias with radical ideas can’t reassert their influences.
“And, quite frankly, we now have a pretty good security situation in this sector.”
The nearly 100,000 people in the region are almost evenly split between Shi’as and Sunnis and today those groups are getting along well. But the Captain pointed out, “That was absolutely not the case when we got here.”
He noted for about a year after his troops arrived, the area was defined by extremist factions from al-Qaeda and others that caused a significant amount of damage. It also was splitting the area right down the line between Shi’as and Sunnis.
“Now that has drastically changed,” he said. “The key leaders who were driving the conflict have either been killed, captured or have fled the area. And a lot of the people who had fallen under their influence have snapped out if it. They are starting to work together and to work closely with us through neighborhood security groups. And through the reconciliation program, they are being given amnesty in exchange for cooperation.
“My guys are now seeing progress and they are seeing the fruits of their labor. Villages that were completely dominated by the enemy, we can walk through freely,” Murphy said.
“And, at this point, the lead for security in this sector is either the Iraqi army or the Iraqi police. Some army units are better than others. Some police units are better than others. But, for the most part, we have good coverage from Iraq security.”
But Murphy then added, concerned local citizens (CLC) — armed neighborhood watch groups sometimes called the Sons of Iraq — provide the best security.
“They know their community, who belongs and who does not,” he said. “They can point out something that is wrong or out of place immediately.”
For an Iraqi, being part of a CLC brings not only security but status as well, Murphy noted.
“CLCs are a way to employ these young men and to empower them with maintaining the safety of their own community and of their own families. It also increases their standing in the community and gives them a personal stake in the security situation. It has been fantastically successful.”
Murphy noted the region’s residents also are benefiting from improvements to the economy and infrastructure. The economy revolves around agriculture, with tomatoes, oranges, apples and dates among its leading products. Wheat is produced, as well as rice — if there is enough water to grow it.
“Iraq had a lower than average rain fall this year and, because of that, the pump systems and the extremely intricate canals that feed the irrigation system have become a primary issue,” Murphy said, while noting irrigation infrastructure is now the No. 1 thing he deals with.
“The pumps were targets for terrorist elements earlier in the war so the system had fallen into disrepair because the security situation did not permit the government to do its work in this province,” he explained. “But they are pretty well secured now and the government is working very hard to reestablish a lot of the large primary pump stations.
“Everybody in this area depends on them so it would be very difficult for a terrorist organization to work within the population to find support for an attack on one of those facilities now,” he added. “And we are monitoring the flow to ensure the infrastructure is functioning, people are not siphoning off too much for their own use and the water is being distributed evenly.”
Murphy, who is on his second deployment to Iraq, praised the 90 soldiers in his troop.
“The easiest thing I deal with is my men,” he said. “I just recently became commander of this troop and I have a fantastic group of guys who do incredibly hard work and do it very well. All I have to do is give them good guidance and they get it done. I don’t have to micro manage anything.”
Though he is the son of a retired U.S. Air Force pilot who fought in Vietnam and the grandson of a U.S. Navy surgeon who landed at Omaha Beach on D-Day, Murphy said he is in the Army because poor eyesight interfered with his plans to be an Air Force pilot like dad.
“I always wanted to be a pilot but my eyes were too bad. Since there was nothing else I wanted to do in the Air Force, I looked at the Army instead. It really helped pay for my education and right now I am well past my commitment and still serving.”
Now an eight year veteran, Murphy, who becomes eligible to advance to the rank of major next month, noted, “I will finish out my time as a troop commander around August 2009. My next assignment will be as a foreign area officer in either Korea or Japan.”
Before that, however, the 31-year-old has a date at the Altar. In August, soon after he returns from this deployment, he will marry his fiance Suzanne Hizzey in her hometown, Kirkland, Wash.
