As Americans witnessed the collapse of Afghanistan from afar last month, one local service member was in the middle of it. 

Sgt. Jacob Grey, a U.S. Marine and St. Bernard alum, worked alongside other military personnel to secure and evacuate a Kabul International Airport in chaos, as native Afghans and foreign visitors alike mobbed the airport following the U.S.-backed government’s mid-August Taliban surrender.

On Friday, elected representatives flanked by grateful locals — including Cullman icon Roy Drinkard, the oldest living U.S. Marine — honored Grey for performing his duty through a time of nation-breaking turbulence that, for a tense two-week period, had the entire world transfixed.

Gentry, himself a fellow Marine, thanked Grey and commemorated his safe return following the Afghan crisis, saying it’s only fitting that local residents pause to honor his service.

“We have a time of uncertainty in our nation that we’ve never faced before. But one thing that I’m very proud of: Even if we have people in Washington who don’t support us; who don’t do the things that are right, Cullman County always does what’s right,” he said.

As a section leader for 19 other soldiers, Sgt. Grey was part of a 54-member U.S. platoon in a Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) that, on short notice, received the order to help manage the crisis on the ground in Afghanistan. 

“We’d been hearing about Afghanistan potentially deteriorating quickly, and so they sent us over to CENTCOM [Central Command], which is the Middle East command. So we fell under them, kind of floating around in the ocean,” he said.

“Then we got a call one day that we were going to Kuwait. So they put us in Kuwait, for a couple of weeks, and from there we went to Afghanistan. It was ‘Y’all are going tomorrow,’ and we went.”

Much of the remarkable imagery that Americans and other global spectators witnessed online and via television during the takeover offered an accurate reflection of the panic unfolding on the ground, as more than 115,000 people converged on the airport in the hope of fleeing the Taliban’s advance, said Grey.

“‘TV actually did a pretty good job of explaining it,” he said. “There were reporters over there with us, and they did a good job capturing how chaotic the whole environment was. We were trying help them; trying to help each other too, and it was like fighting a losing battle, almost, because it was a challenge to do everything we could to help and still meet the time crunch we were all under.

“Staying flexible was the biggest thing about the whole situation, from the beginning to the end,” he added. “It was a situation that required just being flexible, reacting to whatever happened on the spot.”

Elected officials including Gentry, Alabama Sen. Garlan Gudger, Cullman County Commission Chairman Jeff Clemons and Cullman Police Chief Kenny Culpepper all took their turn at the podium to offer Grey commemorative gifts — as well as their thanks.

“Cullman County will support heroes like Jacob Grey,” said Gentry. “And that’s why we’re here today.”