SSG Michelle Murray

Staff Sergeant Michelle Murray sat down with me for Heroes I Know.

Air defender. Veteran. Mom. Screenwriter. That is how I introduced her. That is who she is.

She came out of AIT into air defense. Patriot. Germany. The bar was high. In the nineties, two first sergeants had a bet that a girl could not keep up with the Stinger guys. She said yes. She put her war face on.

She was a platoon sergeant. She had a five-month-old on her hip at three in the morning when she went to get a young soldier out of jail because his roommate ate his cupcake. She made that kid push until she got down there with him. Twenty years later that same soldier found her son, slapped him on the back, and said your mom was my platoon sergeant. He was about to make first sergeant. Husband. Two kids. A house. The kind of NCO she always hoped he would be.

She still talks about her Joes. Amber Cornell, who she told to get back in school. Rocket scientist in Houston now. She told them the same thing her leaders told her. Don’t look for reasons why you can’t. Look for reasons why you can.

Thirteen years. She got sick. Thyroid cancer. Radiation. She still showed up for PT. Last assignment was adjutant for 11th Brigade. The day she finaled out she sat in her truck at Building 500 and cried. Then she went in and did it.

The next day she took her son to Los Angeles. He worked. She went back to school so she could write, and so she could help him. El Paso is home. She writes novels. She teaches screenwriting. She has worked television. She still cheers for her old soldiers.

First Sergeant William White was hard on her when she was new. Vietnam vet. About to retire. She thought he was mean. Later she understood he was setting her up. If he is watching: she said thank you.

This is why we record. So her grandkids can hear Grandma Murray call the platoon to attention. Get the story on tape before we are too old or too sick to tell it.