Murph: The Protector Page #5

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you probably couldn't get

a better compliment,

that he not only recognized

my service,

but he understood the difficulties

that I went through

and recognizing,

"Dad, if you could get through that,

and... and I was so proud

of what you did,

then I should be able

to get through Hell Week,

which is nowhere near

what you had to deal with."

For Michael, it was just...

it was just one more obstacle

he had to overcome.

And he didn't look back.

And, you know, it's a testament

to his character

and a testament to, you know,

his quiet passion

and commitment to making it

on the team.

He went to SEAL training

to become a SEAL.

That was...

and nothing was gonna stop it.

I sent him a card.

When he was little,

he used to like

the story about the train.

I go to the card store

and I see this card.

And it's a little train.

And it says,

"I think I can, I think I can."

And when you open the card, it said,

"I knew you could. Love, Mom."

He called me when he got it

and he said,

"Mom," he said,

"that was the best present I ever got,"

he says, "that you knew

that I could do it."

These are just tons

of memories...

memories from high school,

junior high, all the way

up until now even.

Over here, these are

some of my jujitsu medals,

some of my science medals.

This medical shadow box...

my dad gave this one to me.

It was for one of my birthdays.

And I remember he gave it to me

and I'm looking at it

and in my mind I'm thinking,

"This is probably a hundred years old."

I'm looking at it now

and realizing, most likely not.

But realizing how

the medical profession

was back then and how it is now,

and, you know,

despite all the advances in technology

and medicine and science,

it's still helping somebody.

I'm very proud,

very proud of Hector

as... as the person

that he is developing into,

very proud that he's choosing...

and I want to be very clear...

not medicine or what it is.

I'm very proud that he's choosing

to give of himself and to help others.

Leaving high school, I knew,

I knew, I knew, I knew

that I was gonna be a doctor.

So, through college, that was

the unifying thread

in all my internships,

all my research experience.

I wanted that passion,

that contact with people,

where I could relate to them

and I could try to help them out

in any way possible.

Obviously, as an undergrad,

I don't have all the skills

where I could be treating patients,

but in any way that I could,

that's what I was willing to do.

Mike and Heather

went to Penn State together.

They knew each other there,

but they didn't start dating

till he had graduated

and he'd gone off to OCS

and was now in the Navy.

And once he was...

once he moved to Hawaii

and was stationed

with his SEAL team out there,

then that's when they

got engaged.

He lost touch with all of us.

We didn't know that he had

circled back with Heather.

None of us knew that.

And when I heard

that they were actually engaged

and she was his fiance,

it made me feel a little bit better,

because knowing how much

he loved her

all through college...

I mean, he was...

she was his Everest.

I mean, he adored her.

A year before she went

to Penn State,

someone introduced them

because she was gonna go.

And he, being Mike, you know...

"I'll show her around.

I'll take care of her."

Evidently he decided

he was gonna take care of her

for a lot longer than the four years.

You talk about sticking to goals

or having mental toughness...

I mean, he always knew

that she was the girl for him.

Yeah, he was crazy

about Heather.

That was... we all knew that.

Mike was pretty quiet.

He was... again,

he was a junior guy out of...

he was an L2,

or a Lieutenant Junior Grade.

And I was, like,

Lieutenant Commander at the time.

When you're forward deployed,

every day is Groundhog Day.

It's always the same

and it's got plenty of work.

And again, I will tell you,

Mike was...

he was just a very conscientious,

dedicated young guy.

You know, he understood

the big picture.

It may not be what he wanted to do

or where he wanted to be,

but he knew

that was the best way

he could support us,

the command, at the time.

And so, he rucked up

and did the job.

And as I talked to him

off-line one time,

I said, "There'll come a day

when you're gonna get tested,

so, you know, just be patient."

And Michael was tested.

He rarely spoke of the SEALs.

He would answer our questions

very vaguely,

I would have to say.

You know, "Oh, it's tough."

"Oh, yeah, I've gone

a couple of places."

And he gave us

some instructions, he said,

"I can't tell you where I am,"

he said,

"but I will keep in touch by e-mail.

Please do me a favor,

do not talk about

time differentials,

because time differentials

deal with the location."

He didn't really

talk much about it

because a lot of things

that he had to do,

you know, they're very tight-lipped

about it, most of them are.

Michael would relate funny stories.

He said, "Oh, it was funny.

I was out."

And he said, "I was running."

He was jogging one time,

and he saw these green eyes

on the side.

And then he saw another pair.

So all they had was

shorts and boots, that's it.

He didn't have

anything else with him.

He said,

"And I didn't carry my weapon."

And he said, "And I got attacked

by a bunch of hyenas."

One of the hyenas

went to go lunge at him.

And he just jammed it right in the face

with his fist.

He yelped like a little dog.

Scurried away,

because they travel in packs.

He said, "I'm kicking him

and trying to run

at the same time."

The reason why I know is because

I found out about it

and then I questioned him.

And Maureen said,

"Michael, there's no hyenas in Iraq."

And he said,

"Oh, Mom, you caught me."

And he said,

"Yeah, I was in Africa."

And that's when he said,

"Mom, I nearly lost my life."

He says,

"It was kind of scary."

When he would come home,

no, he would never talk about work.

It was just, "Hey, how are you doing?"

And everything was about...

never about him.

It was about, "How are you?"

You know?

That's just... no, I never heard...

I would try to pull stuff

out of him,

but never... he would never

talk about work.

We all stayed in touch with Michael

through e-mails

and kept up with what's going on.

When he could tell us

where he was, he did.

You know, that wasn't very often.

But, you know,

he e-mails me one day

and he's like, "Hey, Owen,

can I get a firehouse patch?"

So I said, "No problem, Mike.

I'll get you a patch."

Then in the next e-mail he says,

"Well, actually, I need 30 patches."

"30 patches?"

Now to be honest, that's more guys

than we had in the firehouse.

And he told me that basically

he wanted a reason...

The guys know why they're there.

...the guys could think about

while they're away,

something from home,

to remind them why they're there

and what they were doing

and who they were there for.

So the minute he got

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