Ty M. Carter

Ty Michael Carter in full uniform (http://www.stripes.com/news/us/ty-m-carter-to-rece ())

Ty Carter posted on the top of hill in Afghanistan (http://www.stripes.com/news/us/ty-m-carter-to-rece ())

A little background for my hero: Ty Carter is a 34 year old man that was born on January 25, 1980, in Spokane, Washington.  He moved to California's Bay Area about one year later, and then moved back to Spokane when he was around 11 years old.  In 1998, he graduated college at Los Medanos Community College and then finally settled in Antioch, California.  Carter received his training for being a soldier at Fort Knox, Kentucky.  His first enlistment as a soldier was in 2008 as a cavalry scout, and was deployed to Afghanistan a couple times after that, one time between May 2009 to May 2010 as a Staff Sergeant and the other in October of 2012.

At about 6:00 A.M., the enemies began to unleash Hell and Fury on the outnumbered soldiers.  Out of all the actions Carter took, his first "Death Run" was across approximately 100 meters of flat, open land, leaving himself completely vulnerable to condensed enemy fire, to soldiers pinned at a set of Humvees while carrying enough heavy caliber ammunition for the mounted M240's and lubrication for all the guns.  Carter repeated this run three times back and forth between their ammunition stash and the humvees.  When Carter finished supplying the heavy gunners, he realized that others soldiers needed more hand held weapons and more ammo for them.  Carter then made another life risking run to the ammo and gun stashes and back to supply the soldiers.  Shortly after, a soldier named Stephen L. Mace was downed in plain sight about 30 meters away from Carter.  Without a second thought, Carter didn't even ask, but told, his Sergeant that he was going to rescue Mace if it was the last thing he did.  He dashed out and dragged Stephen to safety, dodging and weaving through enemy fire.  After attending the wounded soldier with time-buying first aid, Carter made another selfless run through the continuous enemy fire to a Tactical Operations Center, where he received a radio from a fallen soldier to call for reinforcements and more medical supplies for Mace.  By the time he made it back to cover under the humvees, he was beyond exhausted, and he had been injured the entire time, but he kept going to protect the other soldiers.  His final run was across another 100 meters while carrying Mace to an aid station, and then ran all the way back to the humvees to serve in the fight.  

Within the middle of the intense gunfight, a fellow soldier, known by Stephen L. Mace, was downed with a heavy injury and needed help immediately before his injuries got worse.  As soon as Carter noticed this, he took the courageous action of running through dense enemy fire to drag Mace back to the Humvees before even thinking about it.  Once back at the Humvees, Carter performed life-extending first aid with rapid speed to Mace.  Knowing that the poor soldier would need more medical attendance than what he had, Ty dashed straight to a Tactical Operations Center where he retrieved more medical supplies and a radio to call for help.  When he was done with the extra medical supplies from the TOC, he realized that Mace needed more than just medical aid from handheld kits, but from an aid station.  As tired as Carter already was, he picked up Mace with his (about) 70 pounds of gear still on and ran him 100 meters to the camp's aid station.  After that, he returned to the other soldiers and continued serving in the fight.

Ty Carter in class A uniform (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ty_Carter ())

Without Carter's suppressing fire, the soldiers could've lost that day.  At around noon, the enemies began to circle the camp and attempting to infiltrate the camp's borders.  If those enemies got around the soldiers and were able to surround them, there would've been no survivors.  When Carter noticed this, he began to lay down suppressing fire on the enemies.  Because he had taken a marksmen class for a long time, his fire was dangerously accurate, so he was picking off enemies 1 by 1 with his M4 and helping the soldiers immensely.  

 To be a hero takes many things, but the required qualities are brave, selfless, courageous, and valorous.  Ty Michael Carter exceeds all these qualities.  Ty M. Carter earned his honor by making multiple risky, perilous dashes to help his team, throwing himself in front of a wounded soldier to protect and aid him, and providing a large quantity of marksman-worthy suppressing fire to infiltrating enemies.  Ty Carter sets a strong example of what heroism is, and he has been noticed around the nation for how much of an effect he made with his heroic actions to protect the other 52 soldiers there that day.