[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 206 (Tuesday, November 30, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8826-S8827]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            MORNING BUSINESS

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                   TRIBUTE TO KEVIN ``ROWDY'' MURPHY

  Mr. COTTON. Madam President, I rise today to acknowledge and honor 
MAJ Kevin ``Rowdy'' Murphy for his dedicated service in the U.S. Air 
Force and in the Senate as part of the Legislative Defense Fellowship. 
Major Murphy joined my office in January of this year, where he has 
expertly served as a trusted adviser and critical member of my team. He 
is one of the Air Force's finest fighter pilots, having capably flown 
the F-15E Strike Eagle for the past decade and graduated from the 
distinguished Air Force Weapons School.
  Rowdy served with distinction while assigned to my office. He was 
instrumental in bringing a partner fighter training mission to Ft. 
Smith, AR, he helped establish a Defense Department aviation safety 
council, and he designed legislative defenses against the threat of 
fiber optic cables from China.
  While Major Murphy excelled at his legislative duties, he truly 
distinguished himself during the evacuation

[[Page S8827]]

of Kabul. As Afghanistan collapsed, thousands of Americans and Afghan 
partners reached out to my office for assistance. Overwhelmed by a 
flood of stranded civilians a world away, Rowdy snapped into action. He 
quickly organized a process for triaging and assisting American 
citizens, green card holders, and Afghans who had fought alongside 
American forces. He created ``baseball cards'' for isolated Americans 
in Kabul, which were passed along to the 10th Mountain Division and 
special forces units. He helped technologically illiterate evacuees 
navigate the State Department's onerous online registration for 
evacuation, and in dozens of cases, he alerted the State Department to 
the presence of American citizens stuck inside a collapsing country. In 
conjunction with my staff in Arkansas, DC, and even one inside Kabul's 
airport perimeter, Rowdy worked a long stream of 20-hour days to 
exfiltrate evacuees.
  It is difficult to quantify the number of lives that Major Murphy 
saved. He provided direct planning support and guidance to 76 evacuees, 
drawing on his expertise as a fighter pilot to design and execute 
dozens of successful evacuation strategies. The evacuees ranged from a 
1-month-old infant to an 83-year-old cancer patient, all of whom are 
now safely free of the Taliban's grasp. During the course of these 
missions, he coordinated directly with Joint Special Operations Task 
Force and NATO tier-1 units. Rowdy indirectly helped countless others. 
He received, logged, and relayed innumerable evacuation requests over 
those 2 weeks and directly passed along the State Department's terror 
warning prior to the suicide bomb attack on the airport's Abbey Gate. 
At least 70 people received this notification from Rowdy and took 
shelter, a testament to his organization and persistence.
  Those are the statistics. The personal stories are far more profound. 
There was Mikey, a brave translator who served alongside U.S. troops. 
When Mikey's wife and son were shot by the Taliban, Rowdy acted as a 
personal 911 dispatcher, staying on the line with Mikey's family of 
four for over 5 days and exhausting countless options to safely deliver 
them from the throngs outside the airport gates. After nearly a week of 
constant communication, stopping only to sleep for a few hours a night, 
Rowdy's direct coordination with U.S. military personnel succeeded in 
delivering Mikey's family to safety and medical care. When Mikey 
finally made it through the airport gates, he was crestfallen to learn 
that Rowdy was in DC, and not there to greet him inside the airport.
  My staff described those 2 weeks in August as relentless and 
exhausting. When Rowdy would take 3 to 4 hours a night to sleep, he 
would wake to dozens of new messages from people stranded in Kabul, 
pleading for help. One member of my DC staff, a marine with combat 
experience in Afghanistan's Helmand province, said the personal toll 
from 2 weeks of helping desperate people pleading for rescue was more 
profound and exacting than his wartime service. Yet throughout it all, 
Rowdy stayed calm, cool, and professional. He kept a relentless focus 
on his mission. When the final American troops left Afghanistan, Rowdy 
was instructed to put his phone down for a few days to recover. As a 
testament to his resilience, he ignored those instructions and kept 
working on alternate evacuation options for those left behind.
  Major Murphy was recently invited to the wedding of one of his 
evacuees, as a token of deep gratitude and affection for the Air Force 
major who helped deliver them to safety. His ingenuity, 
resourcefulness, stamina, and composure under pressure reflect the best 
that America has to offer.
  I want to sincerely thank Rowdy and his wife, Laurel, for a year of 
exemplary service in my office. But I am especially grateful to him for 
those 2 weeks in August, when he rose to the challenge that history had 
thrust upon him. It has been a privilege to watch him work, and he will 
always have an open door here in my office. It is my sincere hope that 
the Air Force sees fit to decorate Rowdy after his distinguished 
service during those dark days. My best to the Murphy family, and 
``Banzai!''

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