Master Sergeant Jared Van Aalst enlisted in the Army in 1995. After Basic Training, Jared was assigned to 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Benning, GA. After a promotion to platoon sergeant, he deployed twice to Iraq in 2005, and to Afghanistan in 2006. He died of wounds suffered while his unit was conducting combat operations. He was on his sixth deployment.

Jared was such a wonderful amazing, humble and handsome hero. He is missed tremendously. His laugh had the cutest little chuckle and there were so many attributes that made his family happy that they brought this incredible positivity into the world.

“Without Jared, it should be no surprise that this has been a challenging ten years. I couldn’t have done it without God’s grace and without focusing on one day at a time. Jared is forever etched in my memory. I’ve tried to reinforce to my children how their father sacrificed his life for our country,” recalled his wife, Katie Van Aalst.