UNMC nursing student prepares for Army career

Besides being qualified to be a nurse after she graduates from the UNMC College of Nursing Lincoln Division, Molly Murphy will have another title – lieutenant and nurse in the U.S. Army.

And there’s another qualification she’ll wear proudly: airborne qualified. Yes, she’s qualified to jump out of perfectly good airplanes.

When she was growing up, she said she always either wanted to be a kindergarten teacher or a nurse.

“I don’t know why, but I thought they were the most caring professions,” Murphy said. “The Army doesn’t need kindergarten teachers, so I went with nursing.”

Army nurses don’t typically get sent to airborne school, but because Murphy is enrolled in the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) through the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, she applied for one of the competitive slots. It helped that her physical training scores and GPA put her in the top of her ROTC class.

The Lone Tree, Colo., student with family from Lexington, Neb., comes from a long line of family who served in the military. She wanted to carry on the tradition.

But when she dreamed of joining the Army, females were not allowed in combat arms slots. So instead she focused on nursing.

The UNMC College of Nursing Lincoln Division is designated by the UNL ROTC program as a U.S. Army Nursing Center of Excellence for the quality of its curriculum, students, faculty and staff as well as its relationship with UNL Army ROTC. Each year, the college has five slots for those wanting to be Army nurses.

After graduation, Murphy will go to officer’s training then to her duty station — her top two choices include Washington and Germany. She hopes to ultimately work in an emergency room or intensive care unit. She likes the adrenaline and fast-paced environment.

One may have guessed. While at Fort Benning, Ga., airborne school for three weeks among mostly males, she learned how to fall until she was “good at falling,” then “jumped off things,” and ultimately a real airplane.

Sitting in a monstrous-sized C-17 cargo jet, Murphy said the guy behind keeps pushing you forward as you push the guy in front of you until you are forced to jump when you get to the door.

“You don’t have time to think about it,” Murphy said.

Murphy does remember counting and praying that her parachute would open in six seconds. Then she remembered thinking she had to get away from others to avoid getting tangled.

It might be hard to top airborne school but before Murphy plans to graduate in May, she’s looking forward to going overseas in the spring with her nursing student colleagues for an international nursing experience. She’ll learn about nursing in a host country as well as customs and courtesies.

She’s well on her way of living her childhood dream.