Major Steve Murphy was the Alpha Troop commander of 6th Squadron, 6th Cavalry, part of the 11th Aviation Regiment, and deployed for combat operations during Operation Iraqi Freedom in March 2003. In this interview, he discusses his role and thoughts concerning the deep-attack strike conducted on 23 March by his regiment and his own impressions of combat piloting an AH64 Apache helicopter. Murphy's unique perspective as an AH64 pilot during the attack offers firsthand knowledge and experience of helicopter combat operations in support of the main attack. In accounting for the unsuccessful nature of this deep-attack mission, Murphy said, in part, that, "One of the major omissions in the planning and training process was not accounting for the small arms threat. It was more of an afterthought." In the end, though, he said that, "You couldn't place it on one individual thing. It was a chain of events that led to the poor planning and poor preparation for the mission." He also discusses his unit's preparations for the operation, to include training and deployment to the region, the events leading up to the attack, as well as his own personal experiences during the mission, which included returning with eight holes in his helicopter. In addition to the operation, Murphy describes his day-to-day routine leading up to major combat operations, the "fantastic" survivability of the AH64, and he also talks about an ultimately aborted "strategic attack" that was to occur prior to the war officially kicking off.

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