Fallen soldier to receive Medal of Honor

[bobdina]

Fallen soldier to receive Medal of Honor

By Gina Cavallaro - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Jul 23, 2009 16:58:08 EDT

Sgt. 1st Class Jared Monti, who was killed in Afghanistan June 21, 2006, will receive the Medal of Honor for his actions in combat, his father, Paul Monti, told Army Times in a telephone interview Thursday.

President Obama called Paul Monti, a retired school teacher, Tuesday evening at his home in Raynham, Mass., Monti said.

“The talk was very short and to the point. He said ‘hello, how are you?’ and I said ‘fine, Mr. President’ and then he told me the secretary of the Army and the secretary of defense have approved Jared for the Medal of Honor,” Monti said. “He said he was proud of Jared.”

Sgt. 1st Class Monti, 30, was assigned to 3rd Squadron, 71st Cavalry, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, when he was killed in Afghanistan.

He will become the sixth service member to receive the Medal of Honor during operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and the first soldier to receive the nation’s highest award for valor in Afghanistan.

His father said he will receive the award on behalf of his son at a ceremony will scheduled for a date in September.

The announcement of the award and the call from the president, he said, is “bittersweet” after the loss of his son.

“I’m reliving all of this all over again. I’d much rather have him than any medal,” Monti said.

Sgt. 1st Class Monti was single and had aspired to be a school teacher like his dad.

He told his father he didn’t want to marry until his commitment to the Army was complete.

“He told me ‘I’m not getting married while I’m in the military, I don’t want to leave a widow behind, I’ve seen too many of my soldiers go through that too many times,’ ” Monti recalled.

more info when I get it.

http://armytimes.com/news/2009/07/army_monti_MOH_072309w/

[bobdina]

RAYNHAM —

Janet Monti was home nursing a cold when the call came in.
At first, she thought it was a joke.

A person who claimed to be a White House aide asked if she would be around for the next half hour.

Ten minutes later, she was on the phone with the President.

“He said, ‘I hear you’re a little under the weather,’” she recalled of President Barack Obama’s first words to her.

His next words made her swell with a mother’s pride.

The president told her he had just signed a posthumous Congressional Medal of Honor for her son and would be presenting it to the family in the fall.

Three years after his death, U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Jared C. Monti, son of Paul Monti of Raynham and Janet Monti of Winterville, N.C., will receive the nation’s highest military honor for bravery.

He becomes only the sixth solider from Iraq and Afghanistan to be so recognized.

For his mother, the moment was bittersweet.

“All I could think was ‘We’re going to meet the president, but it’s because my son died,’” she said.

Jared Monti was killed by enemy fire on June 21, 2006, while trying to rescue wounded comrades in the mountains of Afghanistan. He was 30.

He died as he lived, with heroism and compassion, those who knew him say.

“He was generous, respected and professional. Everyone in the Army will talk the same way about him,” said Master Sgt. Lee Power who served with Monti at Fort Drum. “He had a quiet confidence. Some people try to sell themselves, but that was not Jared. He knew his job inside and out.”

Jared dreamed of being in the military since he was a child, his mother recalled.

And he had the adventurous spirit to match.

When he was 4, he disappeared while playing in the backyard and she found him dangling by the hood of his sweatshirt on the other side of the stockade fence.

He once stayed home from school with a fierce migraine but was soon discovered climbing a tree.

He seemed to have a guardian angel on his shoulder.

“He was just very lucky. He lived on the edge but he never got hurt,” Janet Monti said.

Jared wanted to be a pilot. When Janet Monti visited her sister in Virginia Beach, she would bring home photos of planes flying out of the Norfolk naval air force base. “That’s all he talked about.”

But chronic headaches kept him from flying. He enlisted in the Army in March 1993.

By the time he graduated Bridgewater-Raynham High School in 1994, a star athlete and New England wrestling champion, Jared was ready to serve.

He trained at Fort Sill, Okla. and was one of the first soldiers to undergo forward observer training with the 86th Airborne.

His generosity was as natural as his ability to lead, colleagues say.

At Fort Bragg, he gave away a $500 kitchen table to a fellow soldier whose children were eating on the floor. In Bosnia, he drove children to school in his Humvee. He gave away all the new clothes his family sent him.

He could have taken a medical discharge after Kosovo from injuries suffered in his numerous parachute jumps. But he signed up for another tour when he learned the men he trained were being deployed.

He arrived in Afghanistan with Task Force Spartan in February 2006. Four months later, his team was occupying a surveillance position when it was ambushed.

Power was in Iraq watching armed forces news when Monti’s face appeared on the screen.

“It took the wind out of me. All his colleagues will tell you it was a blow to them when he fell,” he said.

Janet Monti said she called her mother in Virginia Beach after she spoke to Obama. She was so excited, “I thought she was going to jump through the phone.”

Jared Monti will live on in his hometown where a street corner has been dedicated to him and a children’s park and college scholarship bear his name.

Power said a new building to train fire specialists at Fort Sill will also be named after him.

But the medals and honors won’t erase a mother’s pain.

After the Fort Sill dedication and the medal ceremony in the fall, “that’s it,” Janet Monti said. ‘It’s just too hard and it doesn’t get any easier.”

It was emotional for Bob Crown to learn Jared had been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. It was his former son-in-law Derek who Jared saved that fateful day in June.

“Jared’s death tore this family apart. He was still a kid in my eyes,” Crown said. “He deserves this. He deserves this.”


http://www.dailynewstribune.com/state/x592694049/Raynham-s-Jared-C-Monti-posthumously-awarded-Congressional-Medal-o

[bobdina]

Sergeant First Class Jared C. Monti

SFC Jared C. Monti was born on September 20, 1975. He was a native of Massachusetts. SFC Monti enlisted in the United States Army in March 1993. He attended Basic Training and Advanced Individual Training at Fort Sill, OK, earning his Military Occupational Specialty of 11B (Forward Observer); he is a graduate of Joint Firepower Controller Course, Basic Noncommissioned Officer Course, Warrior Leader Course, Airborne, and Air Assault.. SFC Monti was assigned as a Targetting NCO in Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 3d Squadron, 71st Cavalry, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry).

SFC Monti deployed to Afghanistan with Task Force Spartan in February 2006. He was an outstanding leader and well-respected NCO who constantly motivated his Soldiers and ensured that his unit was always ready to fight and win. His career culminated with Task Force Spartan while conducting combat operations in the mountains near Gowardesh, Afghanistan. His recon team occupied a surveillance position when they were attacked by a large enemy force on the afternoon of 21 June 2006. SFC Monti was killed in action by enemy fire in the subsequent engagement when—without hesitation or concern for himself—he rushed under heavy enemy fire to assist two of his wounded comrades who had become separated in the fight.

His awards include the Bronze Star Medal, Army Commendation Medal (4OLC), Army Achievement Medal (3OLC), Good Conduct Medal (2), National Defense Service Medal (2), Korean Defense Service Medal (2), Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (2), Kosovo Campaign Medal (2), Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon, NATO Medal, Afghan Campaign Medal, and Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Parachutist Badge, and Air Assault Badge.

SFC Monti is survived by his Father, Paul Monti, his Mother, Janet Monti, his Sister Niccole Monti, his Brother, Timothy Monti, and his Niece, Carys Monti.

[bobdina]

On 21 June 2006, SFC Monti, then a staff sergeant, was the assistant patrol leader for a 16-man patrol tasked to conduct surveillance in the Gowardesh region. The patrol was to provide up-to-date intelligence, interdic only certain enemy movement and ensure early warning for the squadron's main effort as it inserted into the province.

As nightfall approached, the patrol was attacked by a well organized enemy force of at least 60 personnel. Outnumbered four-to-one, SFC Monti's patrol was in serious danger of being overrun.

The enemy fighters had established two support-by-fire positions directly above the patrol in a densely wooded ridgeline ridge·line

SFC Monti immediately returned fire and ordered the patrol to seek cover and return fire. He then reached for his radio headset and calmly initiated calls for indirect fire and close air support (CAS), both danger-close to the patrol's position. He did this while simultaneously directing the patrol's fires.

When SFC Monti realized that a member of the patrol,
PFC Brian J. Bradbury, was critically wounded and exposed 10 meters from cover, without regard for his personal safety, he advanced through enemy fire to within three feet of PFC Bradbury's position. But he was forced back by intense RPG fire. He tried again to secure PFC Bradbury, but he was forced to stay in place again as the enemy intensified its fires.

The remaining patrol members coordinated covering fires for SFC Monti, and he advanced a third time toward the wounded Soldier. But he only took a few steps this time before he was mortally wounded by an RPG. About the same time, the indirect fires and CAS he called for began raining down on the enemy's position. The firepower broke the enemy attack, killing 22 enemy fighters. SFC Monti's actions prevented the patrol's position from being overrun, saved his team's lives and inspired his men to fight on against overwhelming odds.