CJ Gray Grafton Scarlet (b. 1961), of Camp Pendleton, California, served as a photographjournalist in the United States Marine Corps from 1981-1986. CJ Gray Grafton Scarlet was born 13 April 1961 at Camp Pendleton in California. Her father was a career United States Marine and Scarlet's family lived in several places during her childhood, before settling in Mena, Arkansas. After graduating from high school in 1979, Scarlet joined the Young Adult Conservation Corps, a division of the United States Forest Service, where she worked building trails and planting trees and received training as a fire fighter. Scarlet attended Fort Smith Community College in Arkansas for a short time, but after experiencing a sexual assault and becoming very depressed, she decided to move back home to Mena. To pull herself out of depression, Scarlet was encouraged by her father to talk with a United States Marine Corps recruiter. After completing the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) she enlisted for six years as a photographjournalist. On 13 April 1981, Scarlet began boot camp at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina. She was assigned to the first platoon to provide combat training for women, and was selected as Honor Graduate. Scarlet was then sent to Defense Information School (DINFOS) at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana for journalism training, after which she was assigned to Camp Pendleton, California, where she worked as a beat reporter for Marine Air Group 39 (MAG-39). Within eight months of being at Camp Pendleton, Scarlet received a meritorious promotion to sergeant. She also married her husband, another photographjournalist in the Marines, and in late March 1984 her first son was born. In 1985, Scarlet and her husband received orders to Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany, Georgia. In January 1986, having been diagnosed with auto-immune diseases lupus and scleroderma, Scarlet was medically discharged from the Marine Corps. In January 1994, Scarlet moved to North Carolina and began work at a child advocacy center in Elizabeth City. In October 1995, she became Director of Victims Issues for the N.C. Attorney General's Office. In August 2016, Scarlet became President of the Board of Directors for Evidence Vault, Inc.
