bobdina
07-31-2009, 01:47 PM
Generous in life and death
Soldier becomes sixth Medal of Honor recipient in 8 years of war
By Gina Cavallaro
gcavallaro@militarytimes.com
Sgt. 1st Class Jared C. Monti, a fire support specialist who was killed June 21, 2006, in Afghanistan will receive the Medal of Honor for his actions in combat.
Monti will become the sixth service member to receive the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry in battle in Iraq and Afghanistan in eight years of war. He will become the first soldier to receive the nation’s highest award for valor in Afghanistan. Navy Lt. Michael Murphy is the only other service member to have received the award for actions in Afghanistan.
All the awards have been given posthumously.
The White House announced Monti’s award in a news release July 24. The medal will be presented to Monti’s parents by President Barack Obama in a Sept. 17 ceremony at the White House and will mark the first time Obama confers the nation’s highest military honor. Monti’s parents, Paul Monti of Raynham, Mass., and Janet Monti, of Winterville, N.C., each received a phone call from the president on July 21.
“Basically he said, ‘It isn’t much, but it’s the highest award we can give Jared to thank him and his family for his sacrifice,’ ” Janet Monti recalled of her talk with the president while lamenting his reason for calling.
“I really feel sad and brokenhearted because this is all happening because [Jared] is dead. There’s really no joy,” she said through sobs. “I’m proud, I’m so proud and I wish he were here to accept it. I would give everything we have, everything, to have him back. I never anticipated anything like this, ever. He just always had a way of making things work out.” 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. A narrative of the battle was not made available by the White House or the Army by press time, but Monti’s actions are spelled out in an article written by Command Sgt. Maj. Joseph D. Smith in the Fires Bulletin, a professional periodical for field artillery and air defense soldiers published at Fort Sill, Okla.
According to the article, Monti, who was a staff sergeant at the time of the engagement in Afghanistan, was the assistant leader for a 16-man patrol tasked with conducting surveillance in the Gowardesh region in Nuristan province.
The soldiers’ mission was to provide current intelligence, interdict 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, Monti’s patrol was in serious danger of being overrun because enemy fighters had established two support-by-fire positions directly above the patrol in a densely wooded ridgeline, the article said.
Monti immediately returned fire and ordered the patrol to seek cover and return fire. He then reached for his radio headset and calmly made calls for indirect fire and close air support, both danger close to the patrol’s position. He did this while simultaneously directing the patrol’s fires.
When he realized that a member of the patrol, Pfc. Brian J. Bradbury, had been critically wounded and was exposed 10 meters from cover, Monti advanced through enemy fire to within three feet of Bradbury’s position. He was forced back by intense fire from rocket-propelled grenades; he tried again but was again forced back. On the third try, the remaining soldiers coordinated cover fires, but this time, after only a few steps, Monti was cut down and mortally wounded by an RPG.
Staff Sgt. Patrick L. Lybert was also killed in the attack, and Bradbury died with medic Staff Sgt. Heathe Craig when the helicopter hoist that was lifting them to the aircraft near the attack site broke. Soldiers who knew Monti said they weren’t surprised he would be receiving the MOH because doing things for others was the way he lived his life, not just as a noncommissioned officer, but as a man.
The incident in Afghanistan that took Monti’s life “was just one incident, but it wasn’t the first time he did something like that,” said Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Hatfield, who served with Monti in the 82nd Airborne Division. “Jared was just one of those guys that you don’t have to sit around and ask yourself why he got the Medal of Honor.” Stories of Monti’s generosity and humility spill over in the mind of another soldier, Jeff Bolding, who was a sergeant when he shared an apartment with Monti near Fort Bragg, N.C. The apartment became a hangout for the entire platoon.
He and Monti furnished the apartment together and chose a large table with six chairs.
“One day I come home and the table’s gone and he said he had given it away. I was so mad,” Bolding said. “Monti stood up and stared right at me and said he had given it to one of his soldiers whose kids were sitting on the floor to eat because they had no table. He put me in my place. It was amazing. That day he showed me what an NCO is.” Bolding, who is out of the Army now, said Monti had once taken his shirt off and handed it to a homeless man.
“He’s the only person I have ever known who actually gave someone the shirt off his back,” he said.
Monti was also known to give away general officers’ coins to deserving soldiers, and his soldiers told Janet Monti of the time he saw some children in Kosovo being harassed by Serbian soldiers. Monti drove the children to school in his Humvee.
“He loved children so much,” Janet Monti said.
Monti was on his second deployment to Afghanistan when he was killed, and a combat outpost in Nuristan province was named for him. He had been awarded a Bronze Star Medal in March 2004 on his first deployment, but no award had been mentioned for the June 21, 2006, action until now.
The announcement of the award and the call from the president, Paul Monti 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.
POSTHUMOUS HONORS
Medals of Honor since 2001:
Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith
Killed April 4, 2003, in Baghdad while fighting off a horde of insurgents trying to overrun his unit’s position near the airport. He fired a .50caliber machine gun until he was killed. His actions allowed wounded to be evacuated.
Marine Cpl. Jason Dunham
Killed April 22, 2004, eight days after he used his helmet to muffle an insurgent’s grenade in Karabilah, Iraq, saving the lives of at least two other Marines.
Navy Lt. Michael Murphy
Killed June 28, 2005, in Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush mountains. While mortally wounded, he called in reinforcements for his four-man SEAL team, relayed their position and returned fire.
Navy Master-at-Arms 2nd Class Michael Monsoor
Killed Sept. 29, 2006, in Ramadi, Iraq, when he smothered a grenade on a rooftop where he and two fellow SEALs were operating, saving their lives.
Spc. Ross McGinnis
Killed Dec. 4, 2006, in Adhamiyah, Iraq, when he smothered an insurgent grenade tossed into his Humvee, saving the lives of four other soldiers in the vehicle.
ARMY TIMES PRINT EDITION
Soldier becomes sixth Medal of Honor recipient in 8 years of war
By Gina Cavallaro
gcavallaro@militarytimes.com
Sgt. 1st Class Jared C. Monti, a fire support specialist who was killed June 21, 2006, in Afghanistan will receive the Medal of Honor for his actions in combat.
Monti will become the sixth service member to receive the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry in battle in Iraq and Afghanistan in eight years of war. He will become the first soldier to receive the nation’s highest award for valor in Afghanistan. Navy Lt. Michael Murphy is the only other service member to have received the award for actions in Afghanistan.
All the awards have been given posthumously.
The White House announced Monti’s award in a news release July 24. The medal will be presented to Monti’s parents by President Barack Obama in a Sept. 17 ceremony at the White House and will mark the first time Obama confers the nation’s highest military honor. Monti’s parents, Paul Monti of Raynham, Mass., and Janet Monti, of Winterville, N.C., each received a phone call from the president on July 21.
“Basically he said, ‘It isn’t much, but it’s the highest award we can give Jared to thank him and his family for his sacrifice,’ ” Janet Monti recalled of her talk with the president while lamenting his reason for calling.
“I really feel sad and brokenhearted because this is all happening because [Jared] is dead. There’s really no joy,” she said through sobs. “I’m proud, I’m so proud and I wish he were here to accept it. I would give everything we have, everything, to have him back. I never anticipated anything like this, ever. He just always had a way of making things work out.” 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. A narrative of the battle was not made available by the White House or the Army by press time, but Monti’s actions are spelled out in an article written by Command Sgt. Maj. Joseph D. Smith in the Fires Bulletin, a professional periodical for field artillery and air defense soldiers published at Fort Sill, Okla.
According to the article, Monti, who was a staff sergeant at the time of the engagement in Afghanistan, was the assistant leader for a 16-man patrol tasked with conducting surveillance in the Gowardesh region in Nuristan province.
The soldiers’ mission was to provide current intelligence, interdict 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, Monti’s patrol was in serious danger of being overrun because enemy fighters had established two support-by-fire positions directly above the patrol in a densely wooded ridgeline, the article said.
Monti immediately returned fire and ordered the patrol to seek cover and return fire. He then reached for his radio headset and calmly made calls for indirect fire and close air support, both danger close to the patrol’s position. He did this while simultaneously directing the patrol’s fires.
When he realized that a member of the patrol, Pfc. Brian J. Bradbury, had been critically wounded and was exposed 10 meters from cover, Monti advanced through enemy fire to within three feet of Bradbury’s position. He was forced back by intense fire from rocket-propelled grenades; he tried again but was again forced back. On the third try, the remaining soldiers coordinated cover fires, but this time, after only a few steps, Monti was cut down and mortally wounded by an RPG.
Staff Sgt. Patrick L. Lybert was also killed in the attack, and Bradbury died with medic Staff Sgt. Heathe Craig when the helicopter hoist that was lifting them to the aircraft near the attack site broke. Soldiers who knew Monti said they weren’t surprised he would be receiving the MOH because doing things for others was the way he lived his life, not just as a noncommissioned officer, but as a man.
The incident in Afghanistan that took Monti’s life “was just one incident, but it wasn’t the first time he did something like that,” said Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Hatfield, who served with Monti in the 82nd Airborne Division. “Jared was just one of those guys that you don’t have to sit around and ask yourself why he got the Medal of Honor.” Stories of Monti’s generosity and humility spill over in the mind of another soldier, Jeff Bolding, who was a sergeant when he shared an apartment with Monti near Fort Bragg, N.C. The apartment became a hangout for the entire platoon.
He and Monti furnished the apartment together and chose a large table with six chairs.
“One day I come home and the table’s gone and he said he had given it away. I was so mad,” Bolding said. “Monti stood up and stared right at me and said he had given it to one of his soldiers whose kids were sitting on the floor to eat because they had no table. He put me in my place. It was amazing. That day he showed me what an NCO is.” Bolding, who is out of the Army now, said Monti had once taken his shirt off and handed it to a homeless man.
“He’s the only person I have ever known who actually gave someone the shirt off his back,” he said.
Monti was also known to give away general officers’ coins to deserving soldiers, and his soldiers told Janet Monti of the time he saw some children in Kosovo being harassed by Serbian soldiers. Monti drove the children to school in his Humvee.
“He loved children so much,” Janet Monti said.
Monti was on his second deployment to Afghanistan when he was killed, and a combat outpost in Nuristan province was named for him. He had been awarded a Bronze Star Medal in March 2004 on his first deployment, but no award had been mentioned for the June 21, 2006, action until now.
The announcement of the award and the call from the president, Paul Monti 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.
POSTHUMOUS HONORS
Medals of Honor since 2001:
Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith
Killed April 4, 2003, in Baghdad while fighting off a horde of insurgents trying to overrun his unit’s position near the airport. He fired a .50caliber machine gun until he was killed. His actions allowed wounded to be evacuated.
Marine Cpl. Jason Dunham
Killed April 22, 2004, eight days after he used his helmet to muffle an insurgent’s grenade in Karabilah, Iraq, saving the lives of at least two other Marines.
Navy Lt. Michael Murphy
Killed June 28, 2005, in Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush mountains. While mortally wounded, he called in reinforcements for his four-man SEAL team, relayed their position and returned fire.
Navy Master-at-Arms 2nd Class Michael Monsoor
Killed Sept. 29, 2006, in Ramadi, Iraq, when he smothered a grenade on a rooftop where he and two fellow SEALs were operating, saving their lives.
Spc. Ross McGinnis
Killed Dec. 4, 2006, in Adhamiyah, Iraq, when he smothered an insurgent grenade tossed into his Humvee, saving the lives of four other soldiers in the vehicle.
ARMY TIMES PRINT EDITION