Army veteran teaches Kankakee students to finish what they start

In the summer of 2001, Greg Murphy was finishing the baseball season at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais when he decided he wanted adventure.He had one year of college remaining but felt unsure about his future. In June, Murphy visited an Army recruiting office in Bradley. By July, he was on his way to Fort Benning, Georgia, for basic training. He became an ammunition specialist and served four years until June 2005, including a one-year combat tour in Iraq in 2004.“That was when I was looking for an adventure,” he said. “I got my adventure.”He was adamant he would finish school upon his return. “I always wanted to do something bigger than me, and that was the plan,” he said. “If football and baseball didn’t work out, I was going straight to the military.”Murphy was at graduation for basic training when the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks occurred, leading to the war on terror involving U.S. invasions in Afghanistan and Iraq.“We didn’t have no TV or nothing,” he remembered.