About Us

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I've always been a lover of all things outdoors, it's my favorite place to be. As a kid, my family would go kayaking and camping regularly, and we had a house on the river that has always been my second home. The outdoors has always brought me life and I grew up just craving more adventure. 

After highschool, I left my hometown in Pennsylvania and joined the United States Marine Corps to explore more!  In 2010, after bootcamp, combat training, and schooling to learn how to drive really big trucks... I headed off to Okinawa, Japan. A few months after getting to island, I started to get my exploring in while getting ready for our 7 month deployment to Afghanistan. In 2011, our first training was Balikatan in the Philippines with the Philippine Marine Corps and the Philippine Army. After that was  Pohang, Korea training with the ROK (Republic of Korea) Marine Corps, and then Enhanced Mojave Viper in California. February 2012 we deployed providing Tactical Logistics Support delivering and retrograding supplies and equipment, and recovering vehicles. All safely returning home, my next duty station was at Chemical Biological Incident Response Force in Maryland where I honorably discharged from the military a new mom. 

My name is Gabrielle Woodruff, but most know me as Gabi! I am currently enrolled in a Bachelor of Homeland Security program at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and work as a part-time Manager as a 5-star seafood restaurant in North Jersey. 

My family had a very large impact on me growing up and to current. My grandfather was a boy scout troop leader for 30 years after serving in Vietnam. He would always take me out camping and teach me wilderness survival techniques as well as a lot of life lessons that I still incorporate into my every day. Every male in my family was either a military veteran, active duty or a first responder. My brother and his wife are Captains in the United States Army, my father is a Navy veteran, my grandfather is an Army veteran, and he also played a role in the Special Forces where he received a purple heart. Given my background, you can imagine why what we do here at National Rescue & Response Institute gets me so excited! The impact that we are making on emergency rescue is a game changer. I began working in marketing during COVID, I was networking and was introduced to Joseph Vulpis. When he told me about what we would be doing here, I was beyond eager to get started! I can’t wait to see where we go and the impact that we’re going to make in the first responder community.