Raymond Haggerty

Another MCHS teacher who served in the military is Raymond Hagerty, a traveling social science teacher who is new to the school for the 2019-20 school year. He is a West Campus Alumni who graduated in 2000. 

Hagerty enlisted in the US Army in between his junior and senior years of high school. When he was in the army, he was sent to Afghanistan. Hagerty was with his unit when the September 11 attacks happened and was then sent to fight in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

When he entered a war zone for the first time, he had a wake up call. “There are only a couple of windows in the military planes that we flew in so we couldn’t see anything. My brothers and I were in our gear strapped in bench style seats running the length of the plane. In the middle of the plane was large trucks chained to the floor. Two members of the crew stood at the only windows that are on the side doors near the back of the plane looking for any enemy fire.”

Haggerty explained that, as a young man, he didn’t know what to expect going into a war zone. When the plane landed safely, “the huge door at the back of the plane began opening and slowly we all got our first glimpse of Afghanistan.

“The heat came into the plane fast,” he continued, “and all I could see was desert terrain and mountains rising up in the distance. In that moment everything became very real. I was 19 years old and halfway across the world and about to be in a real war. We all looked at each other and knew we would soon have to fight to keep each other safe.” 

It was a moment in his life that he says he will never forget.