Shownotes
Get ready for an unforgettable journey through military history and personal resilience! In this episode of Dog Tag Diaries, Captain Kim sits down with Pat Murphy, a veteran who’s served in both the U.S. Army and Navy across decades. From being the oldest of five and learning to live off the land, to facing gender discrimination and blazing trails as a woman in military police, Pat shares stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Curious about what it was like to be an MP in the 1970s, surviving whiteouts in North Dakota, or the experience of handling military working dogs overseas? You’ll catch hints of tough transitions, unexpected camaraderie, and raw honesty about supporting women warriors.
If you’re passionate about veteran stories, women in the armed forces, military podcast interviews or dog handler adventures, this episode is packed with themes that will inspire and surprise you.
Pat Murphy is a proud veteran of both the U.S. Army (1975–1978) and the U.S. Navy (1981–1993). As the oldest of five, Pat grew up outdoors—hunting, fishing, and playing sports alongside her dad. That adventurous spirit followed her into the military, where she embraced both the challenges and the rewards of service.
Kim Liszka served in the United States Army/Reserves as a Combat Medic, Combat Nurse, Flight Nurse Instructor and one of the Top Female athletes in the Army. Kim worked 20+ years as an ER nurse and decided to explore the world as a travel nurse. She's an Advanced Wilderness Expedition Provider and Chief Medical Officer for numerous endurance/survival expeditions in different countries. Kim has a son, Jace and a daughter in law, Sammy and 2 grand animals, Joey & Bear. Her dog Camo is her best buddy. Camo is the sweetest yellow Labrador Retriever to walk this earth. He loves licking snow, riding the ocean waves, visiting carnivore food trucks and loves belly rubs and treats. Fun Facts: Kim's lived in the Reality TV World! Fear Factor, American Ninja Warrior-Military Edition, American Tarzan, Spartan Namibia and more to come!
Be sure to follow or subscribe to Dog Tag Diaries wherever you listen to podcasts.
Learn more about Reveille and Retreat Project:
Instagram: @reveilleandretreatproject
Facebook: Reveille and Retreat Project
You aren’t alone.
If you’re thinking about hurting yourself or having thoughts of suicide contact the
Veteran crisis line: Dial 988 then press 1, chat online, or text 838255.
Transcripts
We feel it is important to make our podcast transcripts available for accessibility. We use quality artificial intelligence tools to make it possible for us to provide this resource to our audience. We do have human eyes reviewing this, but they will rarely be 100% accurate. We appreciate your patience with the occasional errors you will find in our transcriptions. If you find an error in our transcription, or if you would like to use a quote, or verify what was said, please feel free to reach out to us at connect@37by27.com.
Captain Kim [:From the ball fields of childhood to serving across army posts and Navy stations, Pat's stories is one of resilience, determination, and trailblazing in spaces where women weren't always welcome. Turned down for a civilian job simply because she was a woman, Pat chose a different path and built a nearly two decade military career that carried her across the globe. This is a story you don't want to miss. We made it Season 6 of Dog Tag Diaries where every military woman deserves a platform to tell her story and have it be heard. I'm your host, Captain Kim, and this community has already racked up over 4,500 downloads. So let's smash 5K together, share these episodes, and help us make season six our biggest yet. In this episode of Dog Tag Diaries, we sit down with Pat, a proud veteran of both the United States army serving 1975 to 1978, and the United States Navy serving 1981 to 1993. As the oldest of five, Pat grew up outdoors, hunting, fishing, and playing sports alongside her dad.
Captain Kim [:That adventurous spirit followed her into the military, where she embraced both the challenges and the rewards of service. Pat, thank you so much for being on the podcast.
Pat Murphy [:No problem.
Captain Kim [:This is your first podcast ever?
Pat Murphy [:Yes.
Captain Kim [:So can I ask? Well, let's talk about how we met first.
Pat Murphy [:Okay.
Captain Kim [:We met at the Women Veterans Conference that was hosted in Bend, Oregon this year. Yeah. So what made you decide to come to the conference?
Pat Murphy [:Well, two years ago they had one and it was a slew of information and I could contribute and I gained things. So I thought, well, maybe this time would be the same. But unfortunately, I don't think it was as good as it was two years ago. There wasn't enough information. Like there were PAC people there last time and all these other people that actually had information that I tried to use, but, you know, and some of them I passed on to other people. So I was a little disappointed in this one. So hopefully the next one in two years will be even better.
Captain Kim [:Oh, so like resources for your disability?
Pat Murphy [:Well, resources, but not just for mine, but for others too, because there's a lot of people out there that haven't got a clue. I mean, when the two years ago the PAC people I mentioned things like Fort McClellan, Alabama.
Captain Kim [:Talk about the PAC, though, for listeners who don't know what that is.
Pat Murphy [:Well, it should help with whatever disabilities you have. For me, I'm covered, so I'm not worried about it for myself, but I was trying to get information for others that I know that are having trouble and stuff like that. And plus, pass on information.
Captain Kim [:And you don't feel like this year was enough of that?
Pat Murphy [:No, there was no pack people there. And I had a. I had a bunch of copies of stuff that I had printed up and took with me. And I will connect with. Well, I have to go to Portland in this month for doctor's appointments, so there's a lady's name. They gave me that. I'll connect with her and give it to her and see if she can take it forward.
Captain Kim [:Well, just so the listeners know, the PACT act is a law that expands the VA health care and benefits for the veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxic substances like Agent Orange. And so that's interesting. And so, since I was part of the planning committee this year, we will take that feedback.
Pat Murphy [:Okay. Sorry, I didn't know that.
Captain Kim [:And loop it in for the next two years.
Pat Murphy [:Yeah, yeah.
Captain Kim [:Well, it was interesting because I remember you and I meeting and we talked about Dog Tag Diaries, the podcast. This is your first time doing a podcast. Is it your first time ever telling your story?
Pat Murphy [:Pretty much, yeah.
Captain Kim [:Oh, okay.
Pat Murphy [:Pretty much, yeah. I mean, you know, it's one of those things where you get out in the civilian world, you tell little tidbits here and there and the funny things that happen or the good things that happen, and, you know, you just go with it like that, and then, you know, keep them laughing. That's my.
Captain Kim [:All right, well, let's dig into you. Let's hear about where you grew up and how you grew up and how that influenced you and then how you found the military.
Pat Murphy [:Well, my dad was in construction, so we moved about every two years to some different place, here and there.
Captain Kim [:Oh, where were you born?
Pat Murphy [:Glendale, California. Okay. Yeah, I was in California, mainly in California. But we moved at one point when I was in high school or started just starting high school, we moved to Kansas, which was a real. Oh, my God. I tell you what. It was just so it was like, oh, my God. But they had women's softball, so I could get into that.
Pat Murphy [:They had wheat fields that were just enormous.
Captain Kim [:Well, wait, let's talk about Pat, because you were born what year?
Pat Murphy [:47.
Captain Kim [:So that's huge. Having a woman's softball team.
Pat Murphy [:Yeah, that was huge for me. That was the 60s. Early 60s.
Captain Kim [:Yeah.
Pat Murphy [:Okay, so it was huge. Yeah. I mean. And boy, I got right into that little story. I did that big time. I like that one. That was a good one. But in Kansas, it was different.
Pat Murphy [:I mean, from California to Kansas in the 60s. Oh, come on.
Captain Kim [:Yes.
Pat Murphy [:It was actually the well, yeah, it was early 60s, 61, 59, 60, 61 type thing. But what got me was seeing it. The sunflowers that moved with the sun, the wheat fields that look like ocean. When the wind hit, it looked like ocean waves. I love going out. And my dad and I would go. Now, he was from North Dakota, so he liked, you know, and when I say we went hunting, we went bird hunting. Doves and quail and pheasant.
Pat Murphy [:But at some point there, when my younger brother. The next one came along. I was 9 years old by the next one that came along to me. And by that time, he had established himself, my dad. So we didn't really need to. That. That food. We were using that for food.
Pat Murphy [:I mean. I mean, it was obvious that we needed that.
Captain Kim [:So you learned to shoot a weapon at a young age?
Pat Murphy [:Yes, yes, I was very good at it.
Captain Kim [:How young were you? Do you remember the first time you shot?
Pat Murphy [:I was 12. He bought me my first shotgun when I was 12.
Captain Kim [:What? Okay.
Pat Murphy [:Yeah. But after. Once, you know, once we established. Once he got established, I couldn't kill anymore. And he saw that. He saw me missing intentionally. So what we did was we'd go to turkey shoots and shoot. I didn't mind killing clay pigeons.
Captain Kim [:What switched with you that you no longer wanted to kill live?
Pat Murphy [:Because we didn't need it.
Captain Kim [:Oh, okay. Understand.
Pat Murphy [:We didn't need to eat it then. That's what we were doing. We were eating everything we killed. Fishing, hunting, whatever. My dad's first rule was if you. If you. If you shoot it, you're going to eat it.
Captain Kim [:Okay.
Pat Murphy [:Yeah, it was. That was the rule of the house.
Captain Kim [:So you lived. You learned to live off the land and your animals and resources at a young age.
Pat Murphy [:Yes.
Captain Kim [:Oh, okay. And then your brother comes along.
Pat Murphy [:Yeah, then my brother comes along, and that kind of puts a kibosh on just about everything. Well, not really, but he was a baby, and I liked kids, so that was okay. I'm glad. I like kids, actually.
Captain Kim [:Okay. And then you ended up staying in Kansas?
Pat Murphy [:Just for a couple of years, my freshman year in high school. And then we moved again. We moved back to California, actually, after that, in Kansas.
Captain Kim [:Oh, my God. Okay.
Pat Murphy [:And he got into different things, and the others all came along, and, you know, it was one of those things.
Captain Kim [:Okay. So were your mom and dad ever in the military?
Pat Murphy [:No, my dad was World War II.
Captain Kim [:Oh, your dad. Okay.
Pat Murphy [:He was an engineer in World War II.
Captain Kim [:In the army?
Pat Murphy [:Yeah.
Captain Kim [:Okay. Is that how you kind of knew about the military?
Pat Murphy [:Basically, yeah. He never talked about it, but every once in a while he would drop something and it would just. I was so sorry at that age that I didn't question what he was talking about, but I never asked him. And he just. Every once in a while, like I said, he would drop something on me. It's like, oh, my God. Really?
Captain Kim [:Oh, gosh.
Pat Murphy [:You know? Yeah. That was tough on them. They were all those guys from World War II. They. You talk about PTSD. Holy crap. They were. Love it.
Pat Murphy [:Yeah.
Captain Kim [:I mean, they didn't even have the resources. They weren't treated like we were treated like, as heroes today.
Pat Murphy [:No.
Captain Kim [:Oh, that's so unfortunate.
Pat Murphy [:Yeah, it is. It really is that. I'm sure that it led to his high blood, for. He died at 43, 44 years old.
Captain Kim [:Oh, my.
Pat Murphy [:He had a massive heart attack after my youngest brother was born.
Captain Kim [:Pat, that had to be so tough for you because it sounds like you were a daddy's girl.
Pat Murphy [:Yeah, well, I was. Yeah. I was 16 when he died, and it hit me hard. But by the same token, my mom was in a dire straits, and the young kids are all younger, so we had to pull myself together real fast there.
Captain Kim [:And you were the oldest. Correct. So then you had to help take care of all the younger siblings. Wow. What a great responsibility at such a young age.
Pat Murphy [:Well, that's why military. It was. It was easy. You know, I could tell those kids what to do with themselves.
Captain Kim [:Well, yeah. Okay, so how did you find your way into. Because you started your career in the army, how did you find your way into the Army?
Pat Murphy [:Well, it was that billboard. It was that MP billboard that I saw.
Captain Kim [:Okay. Talk about that. Was that when. That was the era when it was be all that you can be.
Pat Murphy [:Yeah. Type thing. Yeah. And, you know, quite frankly, I don't remember boot camp. Army boot camp at all, other than just a couple of nasty things that happened.
Captain Kim [:But where did you go? Because that was 1975.
Pat Murphy [:Yeah. I was in Santa Rosa. I was working in San Francisco. Okay. And living in Santa Rosa, California, which was right up the road 50 miles or so. And they had a bus system that was great. So I just took it to and from work every day. And that bus, I usually would wake up right just before my stop.
Pat Murphy [:But one morning, I woke up one night, I woke up really kind of early, and I saw that billboard, and I had just been told I couldn't be an underwriter. So I was like, screw you guys. Watch me. And basically, that's what I did. I went down Friday and I. Or Saturday. That Saturday. And enlisted.
Captain Kim [:Oh, my. See, tell Pat no and she's gonna go find a way to do it. Okay, so you enlisted and where was your basic training?
Pat Murphy [:Fort McClellan, Alabama. Alabama. Yeah.
Captain Kim [:Okay, so you went from California to Kansas, back to California. Now you're in Alabama.
Pat Murphy [:Oh, yeah. What an eye opener that was, too. Yeah.
Captain Kim [:Talk about that. It's quite the culture shock going into basic training.
Pat Murphy [:Yeah, it was. And not only that, but the MP school. Let me tell you something. The MP school moved to Alabama while I was in boot camp. Okay.
Captain Kim [:Military police, correct? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Pat Murphy [:Okay. So that was my. That was going to be. My job was to be an mp. So, I mean, that was why I went in.
Captain Kim [:Oh, okay.
Pat Murphy [:And when I got to school, there was a whole. I mean, it was just men and women. They put us in some nasty ass barracks that just had not been ready for us at all. I mean, they were just World War II stuff, you know, and they put a plasterboard between the men's and the women's latrines. So we had all kinds of stuff in that latrine.
Captain Kim [:Oh, my God. Okay, keep painting the picture because this is interesting.
Pat Murphy [:A lot of girls had no clue as to what urinals were.
Captain Kim [:Oh, my God. Okay.
Pat Murphy [:Plus the cockroaches were about as big as a mouse.
Captain Kim [:Oh. Oh, yeah.
Pat Murphy [:One night. One night we heard somebody screaming horribly and we ran into the bathroom to see what was going on, and some kid, she turned the light on, there was cockroaches everywhere and she was screaming. So one of the girls that came in behind me, she says, oh, don't worry, they'll go back out when the lights go off again. They walk out by themselves. Oh, my gosh. But. And it was weird because you had not just the women, but there were men, women and all kinds. We had in the same basics.
Pat Murphy [:No, no. Yeah, yeah, pretty much. But each of us had our own sleeping areas. Yeah, the guys had their sleeping area and we had ours. And the same with the women. But putting this together like that was an eye opener because we did things that you don't do that. I mean, you just, you know, I mean, there wasn't anything bad going on. But the fact that they were men that came from a men's group and we were women that came from a women's group and to mingle them was interesting.
Pat Murphy [:But the first day there. Let me tell you something. The first day there, the first sergeant came out and gathered all the girls together, all the women, and he basically said to Us, we don't want you in our MP Corps. So, ladies, I'm going to make this as hard as I can on you. And bless their hearts, the women showed up. They all showed up. There was seven out of the ten top were women.
Captain Kim [:What? Yeah. That's fantastic. Well, wait, did you all, like, talk about it or were you just like.
Pat Murphy [:We did? Of course we did.
Captain Kim [:And you were, like, over cigars.
Pat Murphy [:Somebody brought a bag of cigars, a bunch of cigars. And we sat in the hotel one night smoking cigars, being sick of ale. But it was worth it. It was just a good chat system, you know?
Captain Kim [:Yes. How long was basic training back then? In eight weeks.
Pat Murphy [:Okay. And peace school was eight weeks also.
Captain Kim [:So did he make good on his promise and make it as tough on the women?
Pat Murphy [:Oh, he did every time. Every shit job that came down the pike. We got women only. Yeah.
Captain Kim [:Do you remember some of the jobs that he would put you on?
Pat Murphy [:Well, we have to go clean offices and latrines and other buildings. Oh, yeah, yeah. You know, hey, it's okay. We did it.
Captain Kim [:And then you ended up graduating. Where did you go to AIT then or your job?
Pat Murphy [:Right. There was ait. That was AIT with MP school.
Captain Kim [:Oh, you did your basic and your AIT there?
Pat Murphy [:Yeah.
Captain Kim [:Oh, okay. So eight weeks of basic, and then.
Pat Murphy [:How long did they keep you in military police school? Eight weeks. Eight weeks.
Captain Kim [:Eight weeks as well. Okay. And then did you get shipped off anywhere?
Pat Murphy [:Yes. A female captain. I think I told you about this one. But she came and interviewed all a bunch of MPs because they had a missile site up in North Dakota. All MPs. That's all that was there.
Captain Kim [:You did not tell me this story, but this is good because everyone gets to hear it for the first time, including me. Go ahead.
Pat Murphy [:This is so my first clue we were going to be in trouble was when she said, I've got some older guys up there in North Dakota that if I don't take you up, they're going to be really pissed. So I'm thinking, okay, here's my first challenge, because I know what's coming. Yeah. And sure enough, it did. It tried, but she got fired about eight, nine weeks into my duty there for dancing.
Captain Kim [:What was the challenge?
Pat Murphy [:The older guys needed an older woman. I was 25 years old by this time. Yeah. Think about it.
Captain Kim [:Oh, my gosh.
Pat Murphy [:That's what she was doing. Yeah.
Captain Kim [:No.
Pat Murphy [:Yeah. Yeah.
Captain Kim [:I shouldn't be surprised, but I am.
Pat Murphy [:Why? Why does that surprise you?
Captain Kim [:It doesn't. I mean, I Know, it happens, but I'm just. It just. I. Yeah. Just hearing it from you. And then. So, yeah, they found out and she ended up getting fired.
Pat Murphy [:Well, they didn't find about that. She probably. They got fired because she danced naked on. On one of the tables of the O Club one night and she got drunk. She was a drinker.
Captain Kim [:Pat, these story. Okay, sorry. No, I think they're. This is. This is good. This is what they want to hear. Okay.
Pat Murphy [:So you end up going to North Dakota.
Captain Kim [:North Dakota. That's where your dad was.
Pat Murphy [:Yeah, he was born. Yeah, he was born in South Dakota.
Captain Kim [:South Dakota. Okay.
Pat Murphy [:Yeah. Yeah.
Captain Kim [:Okay. So you're in North Dakota with these gentle. Well, these men.
Pat Murphy [:Yes. It worked out okay. We had a lot of. I could handle it. I wasn't worried about it. Okay. Yeah, I could handle anything that came down the pike, quite frankly. And.
Pat Murphy [:Except one night, you know, they. They always pulled games on you. They always say, you know, go do this, go do that. And you didn't really have to go find something. And it wasn't even, you know, anything that was important. But one night the phone rang and I was the only person on the panel, and I picked up the phone and I answered it and. And he said, this is major Minor. And at that point, I'd had enough of the games and I lost it that night.
Pat Murphy [:I was laughing my ass off. And I'm hollering because my sergeant wasn't there at the moment. And I was just. I was hollering for my sergeant to come. I said, is there some major minor something Jackass was saying? He's in. My sergeant's going, no, no, no, there is one. There is one. He was a major minor.
Pat Murphy [:His last name was Minor and it was a major.
Captain Kim [:But you thought it was a joke.
Pat Murphy [:It was a joke. Well, I'll tell you. The guy. The guy. The next morning, I got called into the captain's office. Obviously, yeah, he was there. And he just said, I just had to meet this person that thought my name was so damn funny. I thought, okay, well, it's me.
Pat Murphy [:Sorry, sir.
Captain Kim [:Oh, he didn't have you go in front leaning rest position or anything as a punishment.
Pat Murphy [:Oh, okay. He got a kick out of it. I guess he hadn't.
Captain Kim [:What did he want you for?
Pat Murphy [:Well, he was just calling. He was calling to find, you know, he was going to run a test on us and he wanted to tell the sergeant he was going to run a test. Oh, my God. And the sergeant was out of the room at the moment, and I Picked up the phone. What can you say? Yeah.
Captain Kim [:Okay. So you were brought up to North Dakota and to be an mp, A military police.
Pat Murphy [:Yes. And if you go in, you can still find the. It's a pyramid up there. It was a radar station and a missile base. If you go into. Look up Mickelson's safeguard and you'll see the pyramid still there. Oh, yeah. It's a big, big radar thing.
Pat Murphy [:The brown. The brown things that you see on the. On the pyramid are as radar. Oh, yeah. Well, then that base closed down about two or three months after I got there. Actually, it was really weird because here again, I thought I learned about someplace that I hadn't been. I saw a whiteout that happened. I mean, I woke up one morning, I heard this whistling noise.
Pat Murphy [:And I looked out. It looked like my window was all fogged up. And I looked ahead. A radar or a TV station that showed the weather, just the weather. And the wind was all the way to the. As far as it could go. The wind indicator and the cold was as far low as it could go. And when I went out of the barracks, they had it blocked off.
Pat Murphy [:They had the doors blocked off. And I asked the guys, what's going on? He says, well, we're in the middle of a whiteout. And I go, okay. So he said. He grabbed my britches. He grabbed me by the belt. And he said, now step outside and put your hand up to your face and bring it as close as you can to you see it in this whiteout. I touched my nose before I saw it.
Pat Murphy [:It was that dark. I mean, it was just amazing. It was amazing. That whiteout, I've never seen it. And it lasted for three days. So we couldn't get out of the berries for three days. And all the guys that were out the sites had. All they had was sea rats out there where the berries.
Pat Murphy [:We still had the kitchen so we could all cook, you know.
Captain Kim [:Oh, yeah.
Pat Murphy [:Yeah.
Captain Kim [:Wow.
Pat Murphy [:But whiteouts are amazing. They're just amazing things.
Captain Kim [:Three days it lasted.
Pat Murphy [:Yeah. Yeah. And see, when I got up there, when I got to North Dakota, I saw in the parking lots, it looked like. Remember the old drive in movies that you had?
Captain Kim [:I love the drive in movies.
Pat Murphy [:Okay, but you had those speakers there. Yes, speakers on. Well, when I drove up, I thought that's what it was. Oh, they showed movies here at night? No, they're plugs. Because you plug your car in, you would have blankets for your engine and blankets for your. Some kind of dipstick thing. Because when it gets up There. When it gets that cold, it freezes.
Pat Murphy [:Everything freezes.
Captain Kim [:How cold was it, do you remember?
Pat Murphy [:Zero. It was in probably October, November, time frame. And there was ropes, and I didn't understand what the ropes were for, but there was ropes between the buildings. All the buildings had ropes between them. That was to guide you if you got stuck in one of those. That was to guide you back to wherever you were trying to get to. Just hang onto those ropes and walk, you know? Yeah. It was really something.
Pat Murphy [:It was amazing. It was amazing. It was different.
Captain Kim [:Well, it was amazing. And then the base closes and then. Where did you go?
Pat Murphy [:I went to Fort Devens, Massachusetts.
Captain Kim [:Oh, I know Fort Devens.
Pat Murphy [:Yeah. Yeah. In my stupidity there, I thought, okay, 1976 is coming. They're going to have a big celebration in Philadelphia, and I'm going to have some league time.
Captain Kim [:Yes.
Pat Murphy [:Well, I was an mp, of course, I worked it. I didn't get. But that's okay. I had a good time.
Captain Kim [:So you ended up finishing your career in the army?
Pat Murphy [:Yeah. At Fort Devins, huh?
Captain Kim [:Yes. Now it's Devin's. That they closed the.
Pat Murphy [:Yeah, they closed it all up.
Captain Kim [:Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Pat Murphy [:But that was interesting, too. I mean, it was. It was an interesting place. I saw boss. I. You know, I was a traveler.
Captain Kim [:So you were in Worcester.
Pat Murphy [:Yeah, I got up there. I go, what the hell is Wilkes?
Captain Kim [:And all the Boston. Bostonians are like, don't ever say that again.
Pat Murphy [:You're like, okay, sorry about that.
Captain Kim [:Sorry, you Patriot and Red Sox fans. Okay.
Pat Murphy [:Yeah. Also, it was the green berets. The 82nd Airborne was there when I was there, and they. They had a huge range where they would jump. They would jump out of perfectly good airplanes. I don't understand that, but they did.
Captain Kim [:Yeah.
Pat Murphy [:Never could understand that one. But in that range.
Captain Kim [:Yeah.
Pat Murphy [:This was the first time that I really, really got it in Fort Devons. I mean, the range. I. When I became a MP there and being a female, they sent me to investigator school back to Alabama again. So I was an MP investigator. And as that, I had to be in charge of anything that happened to women, of course. And anything with juveniles. Okay.
Pat Murphy [:So that was fine. I was. Okay. But as an investigator, they. One of the first times they sent me up out to the range, okay. They put me in this helicopter, this old Huey helicopter with no doors, and you're sitting sideways, okay. Looking out where the door was. And every one of them came around and checked the straps that I was strapped in.
Pat Murphy [:Okay. And every. And I should have thought that that was what was going to go happen? You know, I'm thinking, oh, shit. Why are they all checking my. They're all. Every one of them checked it. Then we took off and we got up and we got over and all of a sudden he flipped it so that I was hanging like this over rain. Yeah.
Pat Murphy [:When he pulled it back up, I go, yes, do it again. Do it again. Blew him right out of the water there. One was over.
Captain Kim [:Were they doing it to initially scare you?
Pat Murphy [:Yes.
Captain Kim [:Oh, you cannot scare Pat. Oh my gosh, they should know this already.
Pat Murphy [:And I had a good time with that one.
Captain Kim [:You did? Okay, let's. Now I'm really interested. Let's talk about your time as an investigator, an MP investigator, because you were put on. You were given the women's. What was happening with the women?
Pat Murphy [:Anything that happened with the women and.
Captain Kim [:What was happening during that era?
Pat Murphy [:Some kid was raping some of the women. So they, we. I gave classes on what self defense type thing, what they could do with, you know, with their keys and their pens and that kind of stuff. And it, you know, darkness, don't go bow below and all that crime, all that kind of stuff. And with the juveniles, I had the judge give me probation. I was probation officer for the juveniles and I had a lot of fun with him. I had, I had five little kids. I had five little five year olds that went out one day for whatever reason and they broke.
Pat Murphy [:They did like $10,000 worth of damage in windows, breaking windows, in buildings, throwing rocks. Well, the army at that time had horses. They had a stable there. And I asked the kid at the, at the stable, I said, can you use any help? And he goes, well, sure, I can always use help. I said, I got five year olds. He says, that's okay, I can take the horses out. They were out there shoveling shit for three days.
Captain Kim [:Oh, that wouldn't be well with the tire. The child labor laws these days, but.
Pat Murphy [:Well, they had little buckets and little hat shovels. It wasn't too bad. Yes.
Captain Kim [:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, my gosh. Okay. So you saw a lot of sexual harassment or assault with women back then.
Pat Murphy [:Yeah, and that was my big. My biggest thing was if I had walked in, because I was also the first line of defense for abuse and neglect.
Captain Kim [:Oh, my gosh. You had a lot of, a lot.
Pat Murphy [:Of titles, a lot of stuff. I had a lot of numbers in my diary, my phone log. But my, My biggest, my biggest thing was if I had ever walked in on something like that, I was so afraid that I would Shoot the guy that was doing it or shoot whoever was doing it. That was my biggest fear. But other than that, I had a good time.
Captain Kim [:I'm glad you're so honest. Seriously, it's refreshing, because that's a tough situation at the time. Like, did you appreciate that you were given those titles and being able to be the advocate for those women?
Pat Murphy [:No, I didn't appreciate it at the time. In fact, when I left Fort Devens and went down to Florida, I stayed with an aunt who had a teenage daughter. And at that point, I was ready to kill or run over any teenager I saw. Well, yeah, it was. It was enough. I'd had enough.
Captain Kim [:That's a lot of trauma that you absorb from other people.
Pat Murphy [:Sherry, my niece or my cousin, she was a trip. She was so much fun and just always bubbly and everything. She helped me to get over all of that. I wasn't. I wasn't going to run over the kids anymore.
Captain Kim [:May I ask what she suggested to help on relieve that stress?
Pat Murphy [:She was just so into everything, you know? She was such a cute kid.
Captain Kim [:Yeah. Yeah.
Pat Murphy [:And just we teased each other like crazy. She still brings up the sock. The fact that I bought her some Fonzie socks for her birthday.
Captain Kim [:I mean, he was cool back then.
Pat Murphy [:Yeah, back then she was gone. She was. She was there. So.
Captain Kim [:Okay. So what made you decide to get out of the army in 1978?
Pat Murphy [:Well, actually, nobody asked me to reenlist. Oh. So I just said, yeah, my time was up.
Captain Kim [:And I have to ask, back then, did they help transition you out of the.
Pat Murphy [:No.
Captain Kim [:Military to civilian world? No.
Pat Murphy [:No. Good luck. See ya.
Captain Kim [:That was it.
Pat Murphy [:That was it.
Captain Kim [:Where did you end up going then?
Pat Murphy [:Down to Florida.
Captain Kim [:Was that Florida? You stayed in Florida then?
Pat Murphy [:Yeah, I went down to Florida. Well, my mom had asked me to see one of her sisters out, and she lived in Florida. So I drove down. I said, what the. You know, I wasn't ready to go back to California yet.
Captain Kim [:Okay.
Pat Murphy [:Yeah. So I drove down to Florida in my little rabbit. I bought a rabbit. I bought the rabbit. And one day it wouldn't start. So I was walking up to the walk back. I walked into work, and my. One of my first sergeants, he says, because.
Pat Murphy [:Full of snow, he says, where the hell you been? I said, well, my rabbit died. He goes. Looked at me and goes, I didn't think you were that kind of girl. No, no, no, no, no.
Captain Kim [:My ride.
Pat Murphy [:My car.
Captain Kim [:My car.
Pat Murphy [:Oh, my God.
Captain Kim [:Okay, well, you. You end up in Florida, and then you end up deciding that you want to go back into the military, you go into the Navy in 81.
Pat Murphy [:Yeah.
Captain Kim [:First of all, what was it like between that time between 78 and 81 in the civilian world?
Pat Murphy [:I was working at the navy exchange at Jacksonville. They had a huge base there. Huge navy base.
Captain Kim [:Oh, okay.
Pat Murphy [:And I was working there. They switched me out to Corey field quarry station. So I finished up there. But one day I hit somebody parked behind the van I was driving for the exchange, and it was pouring down rain, and I didn't look behind me. And he had no. You know, there was no cameras back then. I didn't look behind me, and I crunched the guy's car a little bit. So I called the guy, called the master at arms.
Pat Murphy [:I told the police, the local. The Corey station's people, Not Corey station. But, yeah, maybe it was Corey. But anyway, the kid that they sent out didn't know how to write the ticket up, so I did.
Captain Kim [:You're like, I got this. I've been in the military. Military police right here.
Pat Murphy [:So when he took it in, there's their master. Their master at arms, Sergeant or chief, called me, and he says, what the hell are you doing with this? How do you manage this? I told him all about the MP thing. Okay, okay, okay. Then I started watching closely how people were being treated, and I liked it. I thought what I saw, and I thought, you know, I really haven't seen enough. Let me go join the navy.
Captain Kim [:And they took you right in?
Pat Murphy [:Yeah, but I had to start. Well, wait a minute. I had to go as an E3. I had to go in as an E3. So I lost a rank. A couple of ranks.
Captain Kim [:So you were e. What were you in the acting?
Pat Murphy [:E5.
Captain Kim [:Okay, so, yeah, so you're back at E3. And what did they bring you in as? Did you have to do basic training?
Pat Murphy [:Yes. Yes. They called you in. They had to call. They called me in about two weeks after I signed up because I had picked the job and I was waiting for the class to start. He said, I got some good news and some bad news. And I said, okay, what is it? He says, well, you're going to have to go through boot camp again. And he says, but the good news is you can opt out because it wasn't in your contract.
Pat Murphy [:And I kind of went, okay, what the hell? Why not? Why not?
Captain Kim [:Oh, you wanted to go through the gas chamber again?
Pat Murphy [:I. I knew the game. I knew the game. You know, I had a good time there. I had a good time there.
Captain Kim [:Well, where was Basic. Was it in Florida?
Pat Murphy [:Orlando. Okay. We went to Disney World. I had some friends in Jacksonville. I had a friend that I worked with in Jacksonville. When I was going to graduate, I called my mom in California, and of course, first words out of her mouth was, are you drunk? I said, mom, I got a ticket and some. And a way to get you here to see my graduation.
Captain Kim [:Are you drunk?
Pat Murphy [:No, I haven't been able to drink yet. She came out with. My friend, brought her up, and so we had a good time, three or four days. Yeah. She said on the way back that the. My. My friend said on the way back, your mom all of a sudden just hollered, stop the car. Stop the car.
Pat Murphy [:And she ran to the beach. And she says, now I've had my feet in the Atlantic and the Pacific. You were a happy camper.
Captain Kim [:You made your mom's year. Okay, so how different was army basic training to Navy basic training?
Pat Murphy [:Well, like I said, I do not remember army basic training that much at all. The only thing I remember about them is running. I mean, the minute you got off the bus that you were running everywhere.
Captain Kim [:That sounds about right.
Pat Murphy [:Yeah. But at 25. Yeah. Yeah.
Captain Kim [:Did they do the shakedown?
Pat Murphy [:I don't know what that is.
Captain Kim [:Oh, you take your duffel bag and they shake everything down to make sure that you didn't bring anything that you weren't supposed to.
Pat Murphy [:Oh, well, that's just. Yeah. Your suitcase.
Captain Kim [:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Pat Murphy [:They would do that. They did that. Yeah. So the Navy. Okay, the Navy did that, too. But as far as I was concerned, the Army. The only thing I remember is just the running. I was very impressed with the young ladies that were the CTs, the drill sergeants.
Pat Murphy [:They took these 80 women and they made them one unit. It was amazing to watch. It was amazing to watch because, you know, the Army's an army of one. The Navy is a team effort. The Navy. You had to. You can't call the fire department when you're on a ship. You can't call the fire department.
Pat Murphy [:You gotta learn that stuff, and you gotta learn how to keep things right where they were. I mean, you had small lockers and small spaces, and you had to do that. I mean, you didn't have a choice. And I wanted to mold these women, these 80 women individuals, into one. It was amazing. It was amazing to me. I'm glad I did it, because I really understood what it was all about. Yeah.
Pat Murphy [:Okay.
Captain Kim [:So, Pat, what was your job title in the Navy?
Pat Murphy [:Cryptologic technician until I transferred out.
Captain Kim [:Okay. And that you, you have like security clearance for that?
Pat Murphy [:Oh, yeah, yeah. High security clearances.
Captain Kim [:Okay, so you worked in. In an area where you were talking about one door in. Yeah, tell us about that.
Pat Murphy [:Well, it was. You basically walked into a safe. You know, you walked into a room with no windows, one door in, one door out, and nobody else could come in unless they knew the combo. Oh, that simple. It was that simple.
Captain Kim [:How many people were allowed in there at a time?
Pat Murphy [:Well, each squad, we had quite a few, actually.
Captain Kim [:And then how many hours a day did you have to go in that room?
Pat Murphy [:Well, we went in for eight hours at a shift, but we did what they call a 22280. We worked two days, two mids, two swings. And this was eight hours, 16 off. Eight hours, eight off, 16, you know, that kind of thing. And then 80 hours for free time. That was ours. So it was a 2, 2, 280 setup. Days, mids and swings.
Captain Kim [:Was that tough on your body or did you just. This was something that.
Pat Murphy [:You got used to it. You figured out how to sleep when they made eight hours before your next shift. You know, that kind of stuff. You got used to it. You did it.
Captain Kim [:Okay. You know, these days they have all that research that leads to a early mortality. So I'm glad you're still here.
Pat Murphy [:I just turned 78, so. Yeah, that's true.
Captain Kim [:How many years did that for?
Pat Murphy [:I did that for about five or six and I wanted out. I needed to go outside and I couldn't. I'm not an indoor person. I was never an indoor person.
Captain Kim [:Yeah.
Pat Murphy [:So when I got to Scotland, I switched out to their master at arms, which is the military police for navy now. Thinking I was going to go on ships, they sent me to dog handler school because that's the only thing the navy hadn't or the army hadn't sent me to was a dog handler. So here I am at 30 something years old being a dog handler. I had a blast. I had a blast.
Captain Kim [:I was gonna say. Did you enjoy that?
Pat Murphy [:I did.
Captain Kim [:So you're outside now.
Pat Murphy [:A dog by my side.
Captain Kim [:Yes.
Pat Murphy [:A nice puppy.
Captain Kim [:Oh, what kind did they use back then?
Pat Murphy [:Oh, God. Everything from German shepherds down to. Well, they had a carnes terrier. They had beagles and carnes terriers because they were small. They could get into the small places and ships.
Captain Kim [:Oh, okay. Talk to me about this. So you got to be the dog handler and how long you build a connection with this dog?
Pat Murphy [:Yeah, correct. Yeah.
Captain Kim [:And then do they just get sent out to do their mission and you get another.
Pat Murphy [:Yeah, well, I lucked out. I looked out because this dog worked so good for me and made me look so good.
Captain Kim [:Do you remember his name?
Pat Murphy [:His bear?
Captain Kim [:Bear.
Pat Murphy [:It was Bear. His beard Dog.
Captain Kim [:Yeah.
Pat Murphy [:Anyway, he. He really did. He made me. Oh, man, he. He made me look like a genius. I swear to God, he knew exactly what he was doing.
Captain Kim [:Pat, I think you are a genius. I think. Yeah. I think you need to give yourself some credit. You are a genius. Listen to your history.
Pat Murphy [:Well, hey, you know, he was the best partner ever had. We didn't argue about the music. We didn't argue about who was driving. Nothing to that. None of that, where we were going, anything. The worst part about it, I think the worst was at Christmas time when they did that jingle bell with the dogs barking. I had the radio on.
Captain Kim [:Yeah.
Pat Murphy [:And all of a sudden, that song came on and he went nuts. He was trying to find out where the dogs were in the car.
Captain Kim [:Oh, I'm so glad you had such good memories with him.
Pat Murphy [:I do. I do. Yeah. Yeah. And I got the transfer with him. They sent me. I picked him up in Naples. They transferred me to.
Pat Murphy [:When I. When I asked to get out, I mean, to transfer. I went to Alameda, and they said, this team. We don't want to break this team up. They're really, really good. So they let me transfer. As a matter of fact, when I pulled into Philly, because we did airplanes, too. When they would pull into Naples, they'd do the airplanes, and I trained with the airplane.
Pat Murphy [:They let me train with them. I mean, they let me put stuff in their things and train, use it as a training aid. But anyway, when I got to Philly, I'm sitting at the Philly air station waiting for the kids from Philly to come pick us up, because Bear was going to stay there for a while because I was going on to ma. School. Had to go to another school. But anyway, as I'm waiting in the thing, here comes the Hawaiian air crew. They just landed. And the first words out of their mouth when they saw me was, where's Bear Dog? Where's Beardog?
Captain Kim [:He's right there.
Pat Murphy [:He's over there. Go see him.
Captain Kim [:You all really were known as a team.
Pat Murphy [:Yeah. Oh.
Captain Kim [:So how did that make you feel when you had to go to another school and leave him?
Pat Murphy [:It upset me. But they sent him on to where I was going to be stationed, and they took care of him. I talked to him. They sent him on to Alameda from Philly. I talked to him. So they Knew what to expect from him and how good he was. Yeah. So they took care of him.
Pat Murphy [:They took care of him. But then when I saw him, it was like, great.
Captain Kim [:So you were reunited with him again. Oh, my gosh. Oh, Bear. And then did he end up staying with you till the end of his life?
Pat Murphy [:He was going to. I was getting ready to take him home, actually. I was going to be. They were going to release him to me because he was time to retire him.
Captain Kim [:Okay.
Pat Murphy [:But I had gone on leave for a week, and he died in that time frame that I was gone.
Captain Kim [:Oh, Pat, I'm so.
Pat Murphy [:Yeah. Well, it broke my heart, but, you know, I bet we had a good time.
Captain Kim [:Do you have pictures of you and Bear?
Pat Murphy [:I don't have any of Bear, no. What I did do for Meredith, one of the ships that I had to do in Naples, the idiot on the quarter deck is second class, I tell you. So we're out on this ship. They take me out in this little boat, take me to the ship, and it's one of those ones with a ladder on the side that's doing this bouncing off the side of it every time the wave hit it. Yeah. So I had to carry Bear up, and he was 75 pounds of dog. I had to carry him up this little ladder to the quarter deck. And I saluted them, what.
Pat Murphy [:Did whatever they were supposed to do. And I said, permission to come aboard. And he goes, show me your id. So I pulled out my ID card, showed him what it was. He said, now show me the ID for the dog. I said, I don't have an ID for the dog. He said. He said, show me.
Pat Murphy [:I said, well, here's his tattoo. It says in his ear, I'm not letting the dog on ship without. This is an E5 telling a 6 this now. I said, okay. So I hauled her down to the boat. Don't leave. We went back down the ladder. By the time I got to the station, my chief was on the phone.
Pat Murphy [:He goes, what happened? I said, well, the second class wouldn't let Bear Dog across the quarter deck. Okay, enough said. But at that point, I took Bear Dog down to the passing ID office, got him an ID card.
Captain Kim [:Yeah.
Pat Murphy [:With his picture on it, by God.
Captain Kim [:Oh, my God. Oh, do you still have that?
Pat Murphy [:No, no. It's been years.
Captain Kim [:I would love to put that on the podcast Art that is on our podcast, because I'm sure everybody wants to know what Bear looks like now.
Pat Murphy [:But he was a border collie lab mix, so he had three white feet. I would take. He was strictly drugs. He was so gentle that I would take him to the schools and the kids were able to pet him. That's how gentle he was. And he loved it. And one little boy says, you forgot his sock. I go, no, I didn't.
Pat Murphy [:I forgot. And then he nodded on me that he only had three socks on. He was like, I didn't pay any attention. Never paid any attention to that part. But it was fun, you know? That was fun. Yeah. I enjoyed myself in the military, quite frankly. I could tell all the bullshit that I didn't fall for it.
Pat Murphy [:You know what I'm saying?
Captain Kim [:Yeah.
Pat Murphy [:I didn't fall for the crap that the guys were pushing out.
Captain Kim [:And Pat, I want to thank you, too, because you have such a strong spirit and you're the type of woman, I could just tell by talking to you that makes like, okay. Like, this situation isn't the most ideal, but you are going to make the best of it. And I just want to thank you for helping all those military women that had their rights taken away from them. And thank goodness you were there to be their advocate because you have such strength and resilience. And I am sure that each and every one of them were so happy that you were part of their journey in that.
Pat Murphy [:Well, I hope so. Yeah.
Captain Kim [:And I want to thank you so much for taking time to share your story and being on Dog Tag Diaries. And Pat, you said you didn't have a story. You have a story. And I want every other woman out there to know that they have a story as well. And it's so important to come and share it because I know. I know that the audience is going to love hearing yours.
Pat Murphy [:Okay, well, thank you.
Captain Kim [:That's a wrap on today's episode of Dog Tag Diaries season six, Baby.
Captain Kim [:We're gunning for 5,000 downloads and 26 Apple reviews. And I know we can get there with your help. Share these episodes Leave a review and let's show the world how powerful military women warrior voices really are.
