{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.boozman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=8FD23DC5-67B0-4BFF-8F5F-2012607B8065", "Boozman Shares Memories of Arkansas Veteran on Alert on 9/11", "2024-09-11", "2024", "2024-09", "Republican", "Senate", "AR", "John Boozman", "B001236", "www.boozman.senate.gov", "boozman", "https://www.boozman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON\u2013 U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR) recognized the service and sacrifice of Kenneth Griffin in \u2018Salute to Veterans,\u2019 a series highlighting the military service of Arkansans.\n\nGriffin\u2019s father served in the Air Force and the family moved around the world to support the mission.\n\n\u201cHe would take me out to the airplanes when we were in California and Gaum, sit me in the cockpit and he\u2019d say, \u2018son you want to be an Air Force pilot\u2019 so that was ingrained in my head from being a little kid,\u201d Griffin said.\n\nWhen his dad retired, the family moved to Batesville.\n\nAfter graduating from Batesville High School he enlisted in the Air Force.\n\n\u201cIt was exactly what I expected it to be,\u201d he said about basic training. \u201cThey break you down to be the person that they want you to be.\u201d\n\nWhile on temporary duty assignment in Germany he was tasked with supporting a two-star general recovering in the hospital who introduced him to the mission of aeromedical evacuation and how, using his skills as a medical technician on a \u201cflying ambulance,\u201d he could meet the pilots. After the assignment ended, he received orders to aeromedical evacuation training at Scott Air Force Base.\n\nThe general is one of several \u2018angels\u2019 who put Griffin on the path to becoming a pilot and gave him the confidence to be successful in the cockpit.\n\nWhen Griffin\u2019s original service commitment was nearly complete, he didn\u2019t know what he wanted to do next. Through another \u2018angel\u2019 he met, Griffin accepted an ROTC scholarship to Southern Illinois University. Once he graduated he began pilot training.\n\n\u201cBack then they called enlisted guys who wanted to be pilots, \u2018wannabe\u2019s\u2019. At some point I got to tell the guys that I was a \u2018gonnabe\u2019 and I ended up being able to do it through their help steering me the right way.\u201d\n\nOne hurdle he experienced in achieving that goal was his vision. Griffin didn\u2019t qualify medically because he didn\u2019t have 20/20 vision. He needed a waiver, but those were rarely given.\n\nGriffin went to an independent eye doctor who signaled that his vision was correctable to 20/20 allowing him to ultimately be granted the waiver. He credits that doctor as another \u2018angel\u2019 who helped him along the path to becoming a pilot.\n\nHe was not initially interested in flying fighter jets, but was selected to attend the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training Program at Sheppard Air Force Base. He trained with pilots and instructors from among European allies. At the end of this year-long training, he was assigned to fly an F-15c, the air-to-air version of the F-15 and flew under the call sign \u201cHeater.\u201d\n\nIn the early years of his pilot career he was stationed with fighter groups in several different locations, but always wanted to get back to Arkansas.\n\nWhen a position opened up at the 188th in Fort Smith, he gladly accepted. It required him to transition to the F-16. Griffin said it was an easy switch but also an opportunity to learn new skills. \u201cYou have fighter experience, you just have to learn the specifics of that aircraft and any mission you didn\u2019t do like dropping bombs, I had never dropped a bomb before,\u201d he said.\n\nAlthough he had already been deployed multiple times and faced stressful situations as a pilot, Griffin remembered 9/11 as the day everything changed. He was on duty at the 188th that morning where he and Wing Commander JR Dallas were planning to practice fighter maneuvers. They were watching television as they prepared for the flight and saw the planes hit the World Trade Center towers.\n\n\u201cI immediately turned to him and said \u2018Sir, we\u2019re under attack.\u2019\u201d\n\nOnce it became clear what was happening, Griffin said Col. Dallas and everyone on duty set to work figuring out what to do. \u201cBefore the sun went down, we had missiles and bullets loaded on our aircraft,\u201d he said. \u201cBy that evening we were set and alert in the cockpit.\u201d\n\nAs one of four pilots on alert that night, he had to prepare for all situations including the possibility that he would be ordered to shoot down an airliner full of Americans. They all had to sign paperwork agreeing to comply with that order if necessary. \u201cThat was tough,\u201d he said. \u201cDid I answer it honestly? I don\u2019t know.\u201d\n\nLater that night he and another pilot were launched on a scramble order after a report of an unidentified aircraft in Oklahoma potentially poisoning the water supply.\n\n\u201cWe got launched to get to Tulsa as fast as you can,\u201d Griffin said. \u201cWe take off and we\u2019re going above the mach. We\u2019re breaking the sound barrier and the air traffic controller comes on and says you guys can go as fast as you want as high as you want wherever you want because you\u2019re the only aircraft airborne in the United States.\u201d\n\nFortunately, he didn\u2019t have to take action on a plane that he later learned was a crop duster whose pilot hadn\u2019t heard about the attacks.\n\nFor the next several days Griffin remained on alert and had to stay on the base. \u201cWe got launched a few times for different stuff,\u201d he recalled. \u201cYou just had to be ready for anything.\u201d\n\nIn the conflict that followed, the 188th deployed to Iraq in 2002 and again in 2005 to Balad Air Base.\n\nDuring his 30 years in uniform, Griffin completed eight combat tours and was an expert in flying the F-15c, F-15, F-16 and the A-10.\n\nAfter retiring, Griffin became active in politics and served in Governor Asa Hutchinson\u2019s administration as military advisor.\n\n\u201cPick something that you\u2019re proud about doing and you hope somebody asks you so you can tell them what you do. I got to do that. Everyday. I was very proud. I\u2019m a very patriotic person. Devoted love for my country. I got to do that and there is no bigger honor,\u201d he said. \u201cVery, very rewarding. And I loved it every single day I did it.\u201d\n\nGriffin was inducted into the Arkansas Military Veterans\u2019 Hall of Fame in 2023.\n\n\u201cKenneth Griffin is a pillar of the Arkansas military and veterans community who has lived out his love for our country and state. I\u2019m pleased his memories of service will now be preserved for future generations of to learn and gain inspiration from,\u201d Boozman said.\n\nBoozman submitted Griffin\u2019s entire interview to the Veterans History Project, an initiative of the Library of Congress\u2019s American Folklife Center to collect and retain the oral histories of our nation\u2019s veterans.\n\nDo you know a veteran interested in sharing their memories for the \u2018Salute to Veterans\u2019 series? Nominate an Arkansas veteran to share their story by calling Boozman\u2019s Fort Smith office at 479-573-0189.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:46:43Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.boozman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=8FD23DC5-67B0-4BFF-8F5F-2012607B8065"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8134618401527405, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}