Chief Warrant Officer Justin Murphy has been a legal administrator for the U.S. Army JAG Corp for nine years and is currently serving in Italy. He’s originally from Seattle, but his service has taken him all over the map. In 2011, he worked at Fort Irwin, California, about halfway between Las Vegas and Los Angeles in the Mojave Desert, which Justin described as “literally the middle of the nowhere.” While there, he decided to pursue his bachelor’s in Commerce and Business Administration online from The University of Alabama.
“Earning my bachelor’s degree was something I always knew I had to do. I had earned my associate degree, but when I thought about earning the bachelor’s, I was looking for a reputable, legit school that carried some notoriety. I wanted to be proud to display my degree on my wall.”
Justin began researching different online programs and stumbled across UA Online, The University of Alabama’s online degree programs. “It had the pedigree I was looking for, and it offered me the opportunity to do the entire program completely online, which was important because I knew I wasn’t going to stay in a single place for very long. I needed a program I could finish basically from anywhere in the world.”
Justin started his degree in 2012 at Fort Irwin and completed portions of it at Fort Gordon, Georgia, and Fort Carson, Colorado, which is where he was when he graduated. In 2017, a month after graduating (and walking for commencement in Tuscaloosa), he received a promotion and moved to Italy, where he has been ever since.
During that time, he also began dating and married his wife. School wasn’t the only thing he managed from a distance, as their relationship was long distance for about a year. But the online delivery of the degree program allowed him to balance work, family and school in a way that he could be successful with all of them.
“It makes you prioritize time management, and completing a program like this helped me learn not to waste time because it is so valuable. Completing a four-year degree online takes determination, and it’s a learning experience, but I grew into comfort with it. You get into the groove, and the flexibility of the program helps.”
Justin said group projects gave him the chance to work with people he wouldn’t have had the opportunity to interact with or meet. One of his favorite group projects was the Business Strategy Game. “The concept of the game is that you own a major shoe company and you have to set up manufacturing and shipping plants in a couple of continents around the world. You have to figure out how to distribute, and it’s a complex sales, marketing and manufacturing model you have to come up with. It made me think of situations and how to apply concepts that I wouldn’t have thought of before.”
Justin said it was exciting to become a student at UA in January 2012, on the heels of the 2011 National Championship, and his newfound identity as an Alabama fan has also helped him connect with other people that he wouldn’t normally interact with. “If I’ve got my Alabama shirt on and I’m out walking – even here in Italy – someone will yell ‘Roll Tide!’ It just connects you to so many people.” He and a fellow soldier even drove from Fort Rucker to Tuscaloosa to see the Tide play New Mexico State, Justin’s first game at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
His biggest takeaway from the program? The knowledge that he had the grit to complete it. “It takes perseverance to get through a four-year program with everything else going on in your life as an adult. It can be daunting when you look at how many hours it is. Being able to finish gave me the confidence to apply to grad school, and knowing I had the drive to complete the bachelor’s was encouraging for me personally. Having my degree supplements and validates my work experience. In my situation, all the experience in the world is great, but finishing a bachelor’s degree proves my credibility. I’m very proud.”
Published: August 30th, 2020