On this day in 2006

Four brave men in Afghanistan were lost in a battle for Hill 2610

Afghanistan, June 2006.

Staff Sergeant Chris "Cricket" Cunningham, 26, led the kill team for 3-71 Cav.

After high school, Cunningham had been looking for a way out of Whitingham, Vermont, when one of his older brothers told him to join the Army. "Don't sign any papers until they give you one that says 'Ranger' on it," his brother told him, advice that Cunningham took.

For a few months now, Cunningham had been angling to team up with Sergeant First Class Jared Monti, 30, on a mission.

Read more on these brave men and this ill-fated mission in this excerpt from my book The Outpost, a mission that resulted in a posthumous Medal of Honor.

Yeats later, Jared Monti’s father Paul inspired the award-winning song “I Drive Your Truck.” He passed away last year. I hope he and Jared are reunited.

-Jake