Local prosecutor takes patriotism to war zone
In the middle of a dusty nowhere, amid farmers and mud houses, 7,000 miles up in Afghanistan’s eastern mountains, America takes one of its last offensive stands after more than a decade of war.
Here in green camouflage, a South Side prosecutor is lawyering for his country. Dan Griffin, an assistant state’s attorney raised in Oak Lawn, has been deployed to Ghazni province as an Army attorney
ome days he helps Afghans file damage claims against the American government. He interprets rules of engagement for U.S. commanders making battle calls. And he walks the troops deployed with him through legal issues from back home “to make these guys’ lives as easy as possible.”
That’s how he sees his own mission: To keep the folks on the front line as happy as possible and to remove obstacles and distractions.
Griffin, 31, an a captain in the U.S. Army Reserve, is uneasy as the center of attention. He says the young soldiers who’ve been back and forth to this war are the ones who deserve a story.
“I work with people who, when you see it every day, they don’t think they’re doing brave things, but for me as a Reservist, it’s kind of an honor working with people who are really brave and hardworking,” he said.
A little taste of home
. Chicago, Griffin did one weekend a month and two weeks’ training a year in the Reserves. Just as his day job transferred him to a new division in January, his marching orders arrived: Ship out to Afghanistan in March with the First Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division out of Fort Bragg, N.C. They had a spot for a second attorney.
“He’s a natural trial lawyer,” Buntinas said. “He’s comfortable in front of a jury or a judge, arguing. He’s good on his feet.”
Back in Chicago, Buntinas and Griffin’s colleagues collected batteries, baby wipes, books, DVDs, hot sauce and cigars to send to Griffin, who shared the supplies with his fellow soldiers.
His mother, Virginia Griffin, said her third-born was the last of her brood she expected to put on a uniform. She figured he was too funny, too goofy, too lively to join the military. He was born on St. Patrick’s Day and figured as a boy that the parades and parties were for him.
But he knew he was lucky to have so much, so he joined the Army Reserve simply because he could, his parents said.
“He just feels he has something to give his country,” said his father, Jim Griffin, who also served in the military, as his father did before him.