He got back out of the vehicle to search for something that would help rescue them. Carter then picked up his fellow soldier and carried him back through the heavy gunfire into the Humvee.Ĭarter didn’t stay inside long, though. The young soldier ran through a hail of rocket propelled grenades and machine-gun fire to get to Mace and tend to his devastating leg wounds. ![]() Larson soon relented, though, and Carter began a treacherous journey outside the protections of the Humvee. Carter said he wanted to help his comrade, but Larson initially refused, saying it was too dangerous. Eventually, Carter saw something on the ground - a wounded Mace, about 30 yards away from the Humvee. Brad Larson)Ĭarter and Larson stayed in the Humvee for hours, taking shots out of the windows with their rifles when they could to defend themselves. Combat Outpost Keating on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border at Nuristan province, Afghanistan, Jan. Stephan Mace, disappeared into a cloud of smoke. ![]() Two of the men went down quickly, while the third, Spc. Brad Larson provided cover for the three other soldiers to try to escape. The Humvee’s tires had quickly been flattened, which meant Carter and four other soldiers were trapped there as the barrage of gunfire continued.Īs Taliban fighters moved onto the outpost, the men knew they had to run to safety, or they would die there. He ran at least twice through a 100-meter gauntlet of enemy fire to resupply ammunition to the men in the vehicle, and he voluntarily stayed with them to defend it. About 300 Taliban fighters hidden in the hills surrounding all four sides of the outpost fired on them using rocket-propelled grenades, anti-aircraft machine guns, mortars and other small arms.Ĭarter immediately jumped out of bed, threw on his boots and Kevlar vest and quickly began to do his job, which was to reinforce a forward battle position - in this case, a Humvee that housed the long-range advanced scout surveillance system. Little Space to HideĮarly that morning, Carter and 52 other American soldiers were woken by the sounds of an attack. 3, 2009, which became known as the Battle of Kamdesh. While COP Keating’s soldiers constantly shielded themselves from enemy fire, little was able to prepare them for the events of Oct. COP Keating was near the Pakistan border in a deep valley surrounded by tall mountains and was known to the soldiers stationed there as “the fishbowl” because they were easy targets for hidden enemies. Not long after their arrival in the country, the unit was sent to Combat Outpost Keating, one of the country’s most remote and vulnerable spots. Carter deployed to Afghanistan with his unit, the Black Knight Troop of the 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. However, he said he liked the sense of purpose he’d had in the military, so in January 2008, five years after he left the Marines, he joined the Army as a cavalry scout. READ MORE about brutal combat in AfghanistanĪfter four years of service, Carter left the Marines and went to community college to study biology. Within months, he’d joined the Marines as a combat engineer. A decade later, they moved back to Spokane, where Carter graduated from North Central High School in 1998. ![]() 25, 1980, and the family moved to the California Bay Area the following year. For his bravery and devotion, he earned the Medal of Honor.Ĭarter was born in Spokane, Washington, on Jan. Ty Carter had the courage to rescue a wounded comrade on the ground during an intense battle in Afghanistan. With the inside of an armored vehicle was the only thing keeping him safe from a hail of gunfire, Army Staff Sgt.
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