Couple’s daughters support parents’ service in Army National Guard

As much as they don’t like saying goodbye, seeing their mom and dad in a military uniform heading out the door and supporting mom and dad’s service to sometimes for weeks or months at a time, is normal for Aerianna and Makayla Carrigan. They’ve grown accustomed to one or both parents’ military service taking them from home.
Cassandra and Darren Carrigan serve in the U.S. Army’s Minnesota National Guard. They are both assigned to the 34th Infantry Division, the Red Bulls. The two Glencoe natives are in leadership positions in their respective units. Cassandra Carrigan is a second lieutenant in a medical evacuation unit. She has served in the Minnesota Army National Guard for 15½ years. SFC Darren Carrigan is assigned to a combat engineer company. He’s served for 14 years.
The couple has been married for 13 years. They’ve known one another since their school days at GSL. Darren graduated in 2003, a year before Cassandra. Cassandra is the daughter of Dianna and Jerry Jenneke. Darren is the son of Sharon and David Carrigan.
They both joined the National Guard to serve both their community and country. They wanted to expand their horizons beyond Glencoe’s borders yet remained in the area to raise their daughters. The couple lives south of Brownton.
Cassandra was deployed in 2005. She returned home in 2007. The couple welcomed Aerianna into the world the following year. Another deployment followed in January of 2009, six months after Aerianna was born. The child doesn’t remember any of the time her mother was gone, something Cassandra appreciates. The good part of the timing was that the bond between Darren and his new daughter was strengthened.
“It was the worst six months,” Cassandra said. “I remember all of it.”

(For the complete story, see the April 17 print edition of The Chronicle.)