STRATTON AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, SCOTIA, N.Y. -- New York Air National Guard Colonel Maureen Murphy, a Baldwinsville resident, has retired after 35 years of service in the Air Force, the Air Force Reserve and the New York Air National Guard.
Murphy’s last assignment was as the commander of the 109th Airlift Wing’s Mission Support Group. In that role she led 390 military and civilian personnel which supported the 109th Airlift Wing’s unique Arctic and Antarctic missions.
She was honored during a retirement ceremony at Stratton Air National Guard Base in Scotia, N.Y. October 10.
During the ceremony she was awarded the Legion of Merit in recognition of her many accomplishments.
Col. Michele Kilgore, the commander of the 109th Airlift Wing, praised Murphy as everything an Air Force officer should be.
“She has the respect of her subordinates, her superior officers, and her peers,” Kilgore said.
“She left the organization better than she found it,” Kilgore said. “We are honored that she has chosen to retire from here.”
In her remarks, Murphy thanked her extended family for the support given to her and her husband Mark Murphy, another retired Air Force Colonel, throughout their careers.
She also praised the Air Guardsmen of the 109th Airlift Wing for the missions they accomplish regularly in their unique mission.
“I have been amazed time and again at what each of you does,” she said.
She’s had a career with a lot of twists and turns, Murphy said, but she has enjoyed every part of it.
“The profession demands a lot of us, but it gives a lot in return,” she said.
Murphy, who was initially trained as an intelligence officer, is a veteran of deployments in support operations in the Persian Gulf, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Murphy received her commission through Air Force ROTC at Duke University in May of 1984 and spent four years on active duty in Spain and Texas. After moving to the Air Force Reserve in 1988 she served as an intelligence officer attached to Headquarters, United States Air Forces Europe in Ramstein, Germany.
Murphy joined the New York Air National Guard in 1993 at the 174th Fighter Wing at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base in Syracuse.
Since joining the Air National Guard she has served in a number of positions to include Mobilization Assistant to the Chief of Intelligence Tactics and Analysis Branch at Headquarters U.S. Air Forces, Europe, as well as serving as a mobilization assistant to the chief of the 603rd Air Operations Center in Ramstein, Germany and the chief of the 32nd Air Intelligence Squadron, also in Ramstein, Germany.
Murphy served as the director of intelligence for the New York Air National Guard’s 152nd Air Operations Group and Operations Staff Officer for the New York Air National Guard’s 274th Air Support Operations Squadron.
She also served as director of staff for the 174th Attack Wing and Headquarters, New York Air National Guard and as inspector general for the New York National Guard.
She took on the role of 109th Mission Support Group commander in 2017 and in addition to her duties in support the wing’s federal mission was also responsible for the wing’s domestic operations missions.
Murphy’s awards include the Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Force Commendation Medal, the Joint Meritorious Unit Award, the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award, the National Defense Service Medal, the Air Force Overseas Medal, the Air Force Expeditionary Service Ribbon and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.
She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Duke University, and a Master’s Degree in International Relations from Cambridge University in England.
In 2003 she was named the Air Force Reserve Intelligence Field Grade Officer of the Year and in 2011 the American Red Cross presented her with its “Women who Mean Business” Award.
Murphy and her husband Mark have two daughters, Ciara Marie Murphy and Christiane Murphy, a son, Conor Murphy, and a son-in-law Robert Cunningham.