SFC, U.S. Army — War on Terror
Jared Christopher Monti was born on September 20, 1975, in Abington, Massachusetts, and grew up in Raynham, the son of Paul and Janet Monti. He graduated from Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School in 1994 and enlisted in the U.S. Army in March 1993. He trained as a fire support specialist and forward observer at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and served as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division, earning a British Parachutist Badge and deploying to Kosovo in 1999. After injuries sustained as a paratrooper, he refused a medical discharge and reenlisted. In February 2006 he deployed to Afghanistan with Task Force Spartan as a staff sergeant and Fire Support Team sergeant in the 3rd Squadron, 71st Cavalry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division.
On June 21, 2006, Monti was the assistant leader of a 16-man patrol on a ridge in the Gowardesh area of Nuristan Province, gathering intelligence for a larger operation. That evening, as many as 50 insurgents attacked from the wooded ridge above, and enemy fire killed Staff Sergeant Patrick Lybert. Monti organized a defense behind a rock formation and called in indirect fire support, walking rounds onto attackers who had closed to within 50 meters, while engaging the enemy with his rifle and a grenade to break up a flanking attempt. When he saw Private First Class Brian J. Bradbury lying wounded and exposed in the open ground between his team and the enemy, Monti refused to leave him, telling a fellow soldier offering to attempt the rescue, “That’s my guy. I am going to get him.” He twice crossed the open ground and was driven back by heavy fire; on his third attempt he was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade and mortally wounded, dying moments later as the fire support he had called in struck the enemy position.
The Army posthumously promoted Monti to sergeant first class, and he was laid to rest at the Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne. On September 17, 2009, President Barack Obama presented the Medal of Honor to his parents at the White House. His legacy endures: a call-for-fire training facility at Fort Sill, the SFC Jared C. Monti Bridge in Raynham, the Monti Fitness Facility at Fort Drum, a 2025 research facility at the Natick Soldier Systems Center all bear his name. His father Paul devoted his remaining years to Gold Star families, founding Operation Flags for Vets before his death in 2022.
Sources: Wikipedia · Congressional Medal of Honor Society