Cigrand addresses MHS on Afghan deployment

     Charlie Cigrand, a 2005 graduate of Monticello High School, spoke to the 9-12 graders on Nov. 10 in honor of Veterans Day (Nov. 11).

     He shared images with the students, showing what life was like in Afghanistan, as well as told stories about his time during his deployment.

     Cigrand served in the Army from 2005-09, and was deployed to Afghanistan from 2006-07. He remained near the Korengal Valley, one of the most dangerous places in Afghanistan due its terrain and proximity to Pakistan, giving the Taliban easy border access.

     “It was very remote and rugged,” recalled Cigrand. “There was not a lot of infrastructure built there. So the enemy could basically have their way with the land.” The said the Taliban was bringing in drones of soldiers and weapons from Pakistan into Afghanistan through the area, hence a U.A. Army presence.

     Today, Cigrand works as a hydrologist with the USGS (United States Geological Survey).

     “It was an easy transition because it’s a federal job and they had a preference on hiring veterans,” said Cigrand. “I was able to get my foot in the door.”

     The job requires studying rivers and watersheds before, during, and after flood events.

     Cigrand spent the majority of his deployment as a machine gunner and radiotelephone operator. “I was in charge of any communications because my platoon and the Army base,” he explained.

     Due to the rough terrain, Cigrand and his fellow soldiers were forced to carry everything with them on 30-day missions into the mountains. When covering large distances, a couple hundred miles, they would travel by Chinook helicopters.

     Every three days or so, the Chinooks would resupply their unit in the mountains because they couldn’t carry more than a few days of supplies at a time.

     “The Chinooks would bring in food, water and ammunition, whatever we needed,” he said. “The supplies added up.”

     When they weren’t sleeping out in the elements, Cigrand said they took refuge inside vacant homes. Typically, these were homes that were once vacated by the Taliban. And, if the house had real glass windows, Cigrand you knew it had been a decent home.

     “A lot of these houses were basically clay huts,” he said.

     Cigrand’s unit would only stay in these houses for a couple days, as to not give the Taliban a leg up on their location.

     “If we stayed more than a couple of days, the Taliban would have time to plan an attack on us. So we weren’t there for too long,” he said.

     When retrieving down a mountain, Cigrand said they took on enemy fire. They quickly sought cover in another abandoned house and fought off the Taliban.

     “We took care of the threat, returned fire and did whatever we had to until things settled down,” he recalled.

     U.S. troops had an advantage over the Taliban: night vision goggles. Cigrand explained they did most of their movements at night because it was safer to do so.

     Through everything he went through, Cigrand said what was the highlight for him was taking care of the natives.

     “I think one of the most important things we did there was on the humanitarian aid side,” he said. “We weren’t there just to stick it to the enemy and try and conquer. We were trying to help out the local people as much as we could.”

     That included providing the people with clothes, shoes and food. They helped build a bridge over the river and build a school for the girls to attend.

     Cigrand said females in Afghanistan don’t have rights, so the girls never attended school. They were expected to work in the homes and in the fields. So after the school was built, they also gave each of the girls a book bag for their first day of school.

     “Seeing these girls flying out of the school on their first day was just… Words can’t describe,” said Cigrand. “They were so excited. They never experienced this. They felt more a part of civilization this way.

     “In the end, things like that were part of the greater reasons why I think we were there; more about helping the local people gain equality.”