Meet Captain Molly Murphy: ICU nurse from Colorado is first female nurse to graduate from Ranger School

No. 144.

That's Molly Murphy's number.

The Army captain wears it as a badge of honor.

And she regards it with a sense of gratefulness — to the 143 other women who had done the feat before she did.

The Army decided to open Ranger School to women in 2015. Since then, 143 women have graduated from the program, a grueling course that tests candidates' physical strength and endurance. 

“I just never want to forget that I am No. 144. Not No. 1,” Murphy said. “There are so many women who made this experience possible for me, and I am fortunate to be the woman and nurse who got this opportunity."

In a way, she blazed a trail herself. A pediatric intensive care unit nurse at Walter Reed National Military Medical in Maryland, Murphy became the first female Army nurse to graduate from the Army’s toughest training course.

'Always looking for the next challenge'

Murphy, who grew up in Lone Tree, has always pushed herself.

She competed with her two older brothers, whether that was on the ski slope, the hiking trail, or the rugby field.

“She's very driven, and she's always looking for the next challenge, and I think that translated well into the Army," her father, Dan Murphy, said.

Murphy's mom passed away two decades ago.

Murphy joined ROTC in college, where she balanced training for the Army with pursuing a nursing degree. After college, she began working as an Army nurse in Hawaii.

That competitive drive wherever she went.

Murphy competed in the Army Best Medic Competition, and she also attended Airborne, Air Assault, and Jungle Schools prior to Ranger School.

She learned survival skills, infantry tactics, tracking techniques — many of which helped her prepare for Ranger School.

“Before those schools, I didn’t know how to interact with people from infantry, and working with them helped me prepare for the infantry setting of Ranger school,” she said.

'If I’m going to show up and shave my head'

She needed all that determination for what would become the biggest challenge yet of her life.

Murphy said there was no “trying out” Ranger School.

“If I’m going to show up and shave my head for Ranger School, I’m going to pass that first week,” she told herself.

The “first week” that Murphy refers to is the “Darby Phase.” In this week, soldiers are assessed on a grueling regimen that includes sit-ups, push-ups, pull-ups, and a five-mile run.

The course has three phases — Darby, Mountain, and Swamp — and each is uniquely designed to train soldiers in different terrain and prepare them for close combat under conditions of mental and physical exhaustion.

Graduates must complete all three phases and earn positive evaluations from peers. And a failure to pass any part of the course could result in being "recycled" or sent back to the beginning of the phase. Sometimes, that means the whole course.

Murphy ended up having to "recycle" the first phase. That actually became an advantage, she said. 

“The hardest part about Ranger School, for me, was not knowing what would come next and not being able to gauge how to spend my energy," she said. "When I had to recycle that first phase, I knew what was coming next. I knew what to expect and how to succeed.”

That was the moment Murphy realized that she would be able pass Ranger school.

“People started coming to me for advice, and that’s when I knew I could actually do this thing,” she said.

Support from her peers was key, she said. 

Murphy relied on the spirit of collaboration her platoon fostered. Another woman in her platoon had also been recycled, and the two of them supported each other emotionally and tactically.

Often in Ranger School, the environment can be competitive — cutthroat even. But Murphy said that wasn’t her experience.

“Our platoon had so much peer support, not only with us women, but with everyone in the platoon. I really think that’s what made us so successful,” she said.

“All of us had different strengths — some of us were good at infantry tactics, others knew operation orders, and other people were good at field artillery. We used that to our advantage.” 

The support from her peers came as a bit of a surprise, she said. 

In the last few days of the course, Murphy suffered a cut in her foot that became infected, and she found it almost impossible to carry her pack. The other soldiers in her platoon noticed and helped, she said.  

“If you show the guys that you can keep up with them and that you can help the team, they’ll help pull you up when you need it, and you can help pull them up in other ways,” Murphy said.

'I didn’t want to have any room for error'

Murphy actually began training for Ranger School an entire year before she attended.

If given the opportunity, she said, she was not going to waste it.

And she didn't want to back down, either. 

She reached out to her company commander’s husband, who created a year-long training regimen for her. That regimen consisted of strength training, "rucking" —  meaning walking long distances with a weighted backpack, sprinting, and doing push-ups.

“Ranger school fitness standards are unlike any other fitness standards in the Army,” Murphy said. “I knew that this was going to be a challenge, and I didn’t want to have any room for error.”

“A lot of guys can just show up and be ready, but I was an entire year away from being where I needed to be,” she added.

As a nurse, she didn't have some of the experience that her peers had.

However, she exceled in other ways, and she was able to use her skills as a nurse to benefit the team, primarily with planning and helping other soldiers with injuries, she said. 

“Males and females bring such different things to the table, and I was able to do well in Ranger School by using that, rather than trying to oppose it,” she said.

'I’m a nurse, and I’m a soldier'

Murphy received a lot of encouragement before, during, and after Ranger School from people outside her platoon.

Her dad, uncle, and the rest of her family have been her biggest support system. Her aunt and her boyfriend sent her letters during the training, providing her a steady supply of encouragement.

She also owed a lot to "Colonel Catina," an army nurse whom she worked with. The official mentored Murphy during the pandemic as she began her nursing career.

“Catina is my biggest mentor and inspiration. She’s a real trailblazer,” Murphy said, adding she calls Colonel Catina almost every day for advice about a range of topics — the Army, nursing, raising a family.

“Just being in the military, you’re around a different caliber of people that are always willing to support and push each other in harder times,” she said.

Murphy is nowhere near done with her career.

“I’m a nurse, and I’m a soldier,” she said. “I want to continue to grow in both of those things, and I think that the leadership skills I’ve learned in all these courses will really help me do that.”