Three days after being awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor by President Obama, Army Staff Sergeant Ty Carter sat down with Fox and Friends’ Eric Bolling to recount the story of how his valiant actions saved the lives of his fellow troops.
Carter spoke in a calm tone, giving a detailed play-by-play of the events of that treacherous morning. Early on the morning of October 3, 2009, Ty Carter awoke to the sound of gunfire, ran directly into the stream of bullets being fired at him by the Taliban to the guard position, all the while his fellow comrades dropped to the floor, and arrived at the site to discover that more help was needed. He returned to get more ammo and more lubrication for the weapons. Seeing that his fellow troops were pinned down, Carter made the timely decision that they had to immediately leave "because the fire would eventually breach the armor." Several soldiers were killed as they came face to face with the enemy. A short time later, he was able to retrieve the dead body of Spc. Stephan Mace, with St. Bradley Larson’s help, and take him to the Eighth Station.
"It wasn’t just me…The soldiers of Black Night Troop did an excellent job of providing cover fire…" Carter said humbly.
In what was a tender moment, Bolling played a clip of Sgt. Mace’s mother speaking in high regard of Sgt. Carter. Mace’s mother expressed her gratitude, saying "I don’t think anything in the English dictionary could describe my feelings for what he did for Stephan that day." Carter credited Mace’s mother’s strength with helping him through his issues. Even as he apologized to her for not being able to save her son, she still thanked him. This relationship is demonstrative of the American spirit of resiliency and appreciativeness for such heroic acts that the war has triggered these past ten years, something reminiscent of our country’s previous wars. Two strangers brought together by a most tragic event.
Carter profoundly concluded his interview, explaining "I serve to protect my family- my service family and back at home. Every service member in uniform is basically putting themselves in harm’s way to make sure that their kids grow up safe, so hopefully they never have to experience what it’s like to live in a country where there is very few laws and tyranny and persecution pretty much run the land."