I read Staff Sergeant Jared C. Monti’s story on why he received the U.S. Medal of Honor and I felt compelled to post it.  There’s so many other stories out there about celebrities throwing temper tantrums or snakes on a plane or who knows what that I felt that telling or, in actuality, relaying the story about this courageous soldier was the right thing to do.  And it’s close to home too with Sergeant Monti being a Massachusetts native.

Here is an excerpt from the official U.S. Medal of Honor Citation, our countries highest award for personal bravery:

While Staff Sergeant Monti was leading a mission aimed at gathering intelligence and directing fire against the enemy, his 16-man patrol was attacked by as many as 50 enemy fighters. On the verge of being overrun, Staff Sergeant Monti quickly directed his men to set up a defensive position behind a rock formation. He then called for indirect fire support, accurately targeting the rounds upon the enemy who had closed to within 50 meters of his position. While still directing fire, Staff Sergeant Monti personally engaged the enemy with his rifle and a grenade, successfully disrupting an attempt to flank his patrol. Staff Sergeant Monti then realized that one of his Soldiers was lying wounded in the open ground between the advancing enemy and the patrol’s position.

With complete disregard for his own safety, Staff Sergeant Monti twice attempted to move from behind the cover of the rocks into the face of relentless enemy fire to rescue his fallen comrade. Determined not to leave his Soldier, Staff Sergeant Monti made a third attempt to cross open terrain through intense enemy fire. On this final attempt, he was mortally wounded, sacrificing his own life in an effort to save his fellow Soldier.

Staff Sergeant Monti’s selfless acts of heroism inspired his patrol to fight off the larger enemy force. Staff Sergeant Monti’s immeasurable courage and uncommon valor are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 3rd Squadron, 71st Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, and the United States Army.

You can read the Presidential address and more at Sergeant Monti’s Medal of Honor Page set up in honor of him by the U.S. Government.   Thank you Sergeant Monti for everything you did for us in the United States.

As we blogged about yesterday, Slideshare is a great Frugal Tech approved tool to help you share presentations, webinars and other material with others.  Well, as we down our first cup of coffee here at Beck’s Cafe it appears someone else thinks Slideshare is pretty good too: The U.S. Whitehouse!  Some of the materal they present includes sort of more mundane official greetings or pronouncements, but some other material is more weighty like Innovation in America, some presedential speaches, official U.S. reports on the environment and more.   You can reach the White House Channel on Slideshare at this link:  http://www.slideshare.net/whitehouse