Heroes 2011
'He jumped into action and didn't hesitate'
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It was, on this day, no rare thing to see crowds celebrating in the streets of Kandahar City.
The 30 Afghans huddled in front of a string of huts in the small Shurandam neighborhood didn’t seem out of place on Nov. 17, 2010, the second day of Eid al-Adha, the Muslim holiday commemorating Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son at God’s command.
But almost immediately, Pvt. Marcus Montez, a 20-year-old medic on only his second mission since arriving in Afghanistan, heard a sound that told him celebration had been overtaken by panic and desperation.
A tormented wail rose from the center of the crowd, and Montez and the rest of his dismounted fire team ran toward the source. Pushing their way through, they found a young woman cradling the lifeless body of her infant daughter.
“He jumped into action and didn’t hesitate at all,” said Sgt. Ryan Mauk, Montez’s squad leader that day.
No interpreter was available but Montez persuaded the mother to let him assess the child, as the other soldiers made certain that he had room to work.
The child wasn’t breathing, and Montez found no pulse. He immediately began CPR, mixing abdominal thrusts and blows to the back. Then he saw the problem.
A necklace, just string and beads, was choking the child to death.
“It was twisted around her neck,” said Montez, now a private first class. “Maybe the kid was playing with it or it got caught on something.”
As more curious Afghans drifted over, Montez reached for his scissors, snipped off the necklace and resumed CPR.
Within seconds, Montez said, “The baby just started crying. She came back to life.”
A second fire team, including an interpreter, arrived moments later. The little girl’s vital signs stabilized. Through the interpreter, the girl’s family and a village elder heaped gratitude on Montez and his fellow soldiers.
“They were really thankful and they shook all of our hands and they invited us to stay for dinner,” Montez said.
The soldiers declined politely, explaining that they had other areas to patrol before the evening ended. Less than half an hour after coming upon the dying child, the soldiers were on their way and, in that moment, Montez recognized only that he’d done his job. No more, no less.
A month later, Gen. David Petraeus, commander of the Afghan war effort, visited Camp Nathan Smith, where he congratulated Montez and presented him with a certificate indicating that he’d been awarded the Soldier’s Medal, the highest honor the Army bestows for heroism in a noncombat situation.
The award is so rare — only four have been presented in nearly a decade of action in Afghanistan — that the actual medal had to be ordered and shipped from the States. It didn’t arrive in time for the general’s visit.
Petraeus wrote the book on the U.S. military’s particular brand of counterinsurgency, penning a manual in 2006 that the U.S. has used as it works to pacify Iraq and Afghanistan. Killing enemy fighters is a critical part of the mission, but so too is winning the trust and respect of the local population.
Montez saved a child’s life that day, and the goodwill lingered.
“That neighborhood is a rural community. There’s not a lot of people there and they don’t see U.S. activity very much,” Mauk said earlier this year. “When we get down into that area, they’re very cooperative with us and we get the help we need when we need it.”
turnerd@stripes.osd.mil
Twitter: @DerekTurnerDC
