hero

G.I. Jann left E.R. nurse job at age 50

to join the Army

                      Afghanistan » 'I see these kids do it. And that's when I know I have to keep going.'



By Matthew D. LaPlante

Sprained ankles and severe head trauma. Head colds and terminal cancer. Dying children and hypochondriac adults. After decades in the emergency rooms of hospitals throughout Salt Lake County, nothing fazed her.


And that was a problem.


"I didn't feel like I was growing in my E.R. job," she said. "I wanted to do something that would be a challenge -- something that would force me to grow."   So, at the age of 50, she joined the Army.


The decision shocked many of the people around her. "They thought I was crazy," said Griffis, one of the oldest junior officers in the Army. "I think they were proud of what I was doing, but they definitely thought I was nuts."  And sometimes, as she prepares for a tour of duty with a mobile Army surgical unit in Afghanistan, Griffis wonders whether they were right.


"Whenever I'm tired and dirty and we still have half the mission left to do, that's when I struggle," said Griffis, who completed her pre-deployment training with the Utah-based 934th Forward Surgical Team last week at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. "And then I see these kids do it. And that's when I know I have to keep going."


The 53-year-old could easily pass for 40. And decked out in combat fatigues, a helmet and body armor, and carrying an M16 assault rifle, the platinum blond soldier doesn't look as out of place as she sometimes feels. But as she worked her way through target practice, a combat driving course and a simulated suicide attack during training, she sometimes felt as though she stuck out.


"I think it's hard for them, putting up with me," Griffis said of members of her team, most of whom are young enough to be her children.


But 934th commander Roger Beaulieu, who will lead the group to one of the most dangerous places on the planet, says he wouldn't put up with a soldier that wasn't an asset to the small, tight-knit team. Griffis brings decades of experience handling trauma cases, not to mention a quirky sense of humor and a caring instinct for her fellow soldiers, he said.   "She has different life experiences that will bring a fresh perspective to our mission," Beaulieu said.  He said that Griffis' lack of familiarity with the military side of things "will fall into place -- that's the rest of the team's job, to help her get up to speed with all the nuances that come with military life."


Back home in Utah, the initial shock at Griffis' decision has given way to tremendous pride and an outpouring of support.


"When she first decided to do this, I asked her, 'Are you serious? Are you sure you want to take this on?'" said Griffis' friend Hannie Bailey. "But to be honest, I can't say that it really surprised me, because Jann is the kind of person that cannot sit still. She always has to be doing something physically active and she is constantly switching gears -- she can't do any one thing for very long before she gets bored."   Bailey suspects that her friend is being hard on herself when she expresses worries about not keeping up with the younger soldiers. "She's very competitive," Bailey said. "She just won't let herself get old -- she can't accept that and she won't allow it."


For her part, Griffis no longer feels as though she's seen it all. During two weeks of training at Miami's Ryder Trauma Center -- one of the busiest trauma hospitals in the nation -- her team treated victims of multiple gunshot wounds, severe burns and even a man who was attacked with a machete.   "I saw things there that I had never seen in my whole career as a trauma nurse," she said.


She knows that the coming year in Afghanistan will bring more once-in-a-lifetime experiences. And so now, more than ever, she's confident that while her decision to join the Army may have been unconventional, it was also the right choice.

mlaplante@sltrib.com

Voices In their words

Over the next year, soldiers from two Utah-based medical units in Afghanistan will share their stories in the pages of The Salt Lake Tribune, at blogs.sltrib.com/military and on personal Web sites, such as the blog written by Jann Griffis: jannieinafghanie.blogspot.com