Face of Defense: Marine Draws Inspiration From Aiding in Boy's Rescue

By Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Andy Martinez 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force

CAMP FOSTER, Japan, Aug. 25, 2017 — Cries of a desperate mother and the sight of a child's limp body on the beach alarmed Marine Corps Capt. Justin Griffis, who was spending a normal day snorkeling with his family at Maeda Flats in Okinawa, Japan, July 23.

Marine Corps Capt. Justin Griffis, a current operations and training officer with Marine Air Control Group 18, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, assisted in the rescue of a 7-year old Japanese boy who almost drowned at Maeda Flats, Okinawa, Japan, July 23, 2017.

Marine Corps Capt. Justin Griffis, a current operations and training officer with Marine Air Control Group 18, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, assisted in the rescue of a 7-year old Japanese boy who almost drowned at Maeda Flats, Okinawa, Japan, July 23, 2017. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Laura Gauna

Griffis shoved through the mass of people who had gathered and was immediately drawn to the lifeless body of a 7-year old Japanese boy.

"My first thoughts were, 'They need help. How can I help?'" said Griffis, a current operations and training officer with Marine Air Control Group 18, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing. "There was a moment where I thought, 'Oh my God, what do I do?' but that thought went away the moment it arrived. That's when my training kicked in."

Griffis, like most Marines, took a CPR class and knew what had to be done. However, after his initial shock wore off, Griffis said, he noticed a woman already administering CPR to the boy.

Rachel Gruber, an emergency room nurse with U.S. Naval Hospital Okinawa here, was administering chest compressions in accordance with CPR procedures. Several other service members also were present, trying to assist the boy in any way they could.

Without hesitation, Griffis began to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to the boy.

"Every time I gave emergency breathing, I was getting water, vomit and blood back," said Griffis, a native of Arvada, Colorado. "It's not pretty, it's scary, it's disgusting, and it's horrifying. For a minute I couldn't help to think, 'What if this was my daughter here? What if my daughter was in his position and needed help?"

Safe Transport

The boy desperately needed to get to a hospital, so when Gruber and Griffis noticed a man holding a boogie board, they sprang into action as Griffis' wife, Jen, raced toward him.

Using the board as a makeshift stretcher, Griffis, Gruber and Marine Corps Sgt. Bradley Best transported the boy swiftly and carefully away from the beach. Best is a ground training noncommissioned officer in charge with Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron, Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.

With no response from the boy, Gruber yelled for someone to get an automated external defibrillator. Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Jonathan Fassnacht and his wife, Octa, immediately took off in search of one. Moments later, they ran into the surf medics, who were already on their way with the machine. The team struggled to dry the boy's wet body to attach the defibrillator and send an electric shock to his heart.

After several attempts at doing so, they loaded him onto the ambulance that had just arrived. The emergency medical technicians raced to the nearest hospital, leaving Griffis and the others in stunned silence. After EMTs picked up the boy, he was immediately taken to a nearby hospital, and later was transferred to a hospital in mainland Japan, where his family resides.

Realization

Griffis said he snapped back to reality when he caught sight of his family.

"My wife and two kids were trucking up the hill with all of the stuff we brought to the beach," he said. "It got real to me at that point; this could have easily been one of them if I kept my eyes off of them."

Griffis said the harrowing incident drove him to take action and inspired him. He got with Red Cross and his unit's family readiness officer to develop a CPR class not only for service members, but also for their spouses.

"You never know when you're going to be the one who needs help," Griffis said. "Sometimes, you need to lend a helping hand to someone else, so have the knowledge. Have the skill set. Going through the training myself prepared me to act, but I still need a refresh to know the latest and greatest."

Beale Airmen promote positive relations between law enforcement; communities

By Senior Airman Justin Parsons, 9th Reconnaissance Wing Public Affair / Published August 24, 2017

BEALE AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- 9th Security Forces Squadron Airmen participated in the annual National Night Out, hosted in Marysville, recently to promote positive relations between law enforcement and the local community they are sworn to protect.

National Night Out is an event held in over 16,000 communities nationwide. 9th SFS Airmen attended to help build relations with the local neighborhoods by showcasing what they do to ensure the safety and security of Beale Air Force Base.

"I’m excited that our Airmen are ambassadors to the community," said Capt. Jordan Criss 9th SFS operations officer. “Our interaction with them shows we are here to do what's right, which builds a culture of trust."

Beale Airmen spoke to attendees on the details of their career field and provided an opportunity to local families to have minors complete a fingerprint identification kit, which includes up-to-date information on the child to be given to local authorities in an emergency situation.

"We fingerprint all ten digits of their hands and include any information on the child, including photos, and give that kit back to the parents for safe keeping." said Staff Sgt. Robert Kammeyer II, 9th SFS security forces leader. "It allows parents to give local police a complete profile on their child in the case of an emergency."

Beale participating in events like the NNO is designed to help establish strong relationships between the Airmen and local population and instill that in younger generations.

"We aim to teach kids it is a good thing to have a positive interaction with police officers and if they see something bad or suspicious to tell an adult or an officer,” Criss said. “We want to grow great kids that have trust in the military and the police.”

Active-Duty U.S. Navy Commander Pleads Guilty to Conspiring With Foreign Defense Contractor to Defraud the U.S. Navy

An active-duty U.S. Navy commander pleaded guilty today in connection with his efforts to obstruct a federal criminal investigation of the owner and chief executive officer of a multi-national defense contracting firm headquartered in Singapore.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Acting U.S. Attorney Alana Robinson of the Southern District of California, Director Dermot O’Reilly of the Department of Defense’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) and Director Andrew Traver of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) made the announcement.

Bobby Pitts, 48, of Chesapeake, Va., pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. in connection with the NCIS’s investigation of Leonard Glenn Francis, the owner and CEO of Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA).  Pitts is set to be sentenced on December 1, by U.S. Magistrate Judge Bernard Skomal of the Southern District of California, who accepted his plea today.

According to admissions made as part of his plea agreement, from August 2009 to May 2011, Pitts served as the officer in charge of the U.S. Navy’s Fleet Industrial Supply Command (FISC) in Singapore.  As part of his duties, Pitts learned that NCIS and several civilian employees of the U.S. Navy were investigating whether Francis was over-billing the U.S. Navy on ship husbanding contracts.  Pitts had access to internal U.S. Navy documents pertaining to investigative steps that the U.S. Navy was considering and admitted that he shared this information with Francis, with the intent to impede and obstruct the U.S. Navy’s oversight of its contracts with GDMA.  On Nov. 23, 2010, for example, Pitts forwarded to a representative of GDMA an internal U.S. Navy email discussing FISC’s intention to contact officials with the Royal Thai Navy to determine whether GDMA had been billing the U.S. Navy for services in fact rendered by the Thai government.

In pleading guilty, Pitts admitted, among other things, to working with Francis and other foreign-defense-contractor personnel to help them cover up GDMA’s overcharging practices with respect to providing protection to U.S. Navy forces deployed in the Western Pacific.

So far, 18 of 27 defendants charged in the U.S. Navy bribery and fraud scandal have pleaded guilty.  All defendants are presumed innocent unless and until convicted beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant Chief Brian R. Young of the Fraud Section of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mark W. Pletcher and Patrick Hovakimian of the Southern District of California.