President Barack Obama has nominated Patrick J. Murphy to be the next under secretary of the Army, a post currently held by Acting Under Secretary Eric Fanning.The office was assumed by Fanning, July 6, after Brad Carson became the acting under secretary of Defense for personnel and readiness.At press time, no date has yet been set for Murphy’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.Murphy, a former member of Congress, was the first Iraq War veteran elected to the U.S. Congress, according a White House press release. Murphy represented the 8th District of Pennsylvania in the House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011.As a lawmaker, he served on the House Armed Services Committee, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Appropriations Committee.Murphy received his law degree in 1999 from Widener University School of Law in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, after earning a bachelor of arts degree from Pennsylvania’s King’s College in 1996.While in college, he attended ROTC at nearby Scranton University and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army Reserve upon graduation.He entered active duty in 2000 as a staff judge advocate and then became a faculty member at West Point.From 2003 to 2004, he was deployed to Iraq, where he earned a Bronze Star Medal with the 82nd Airborne Division.