More combat troops served in the Iraq War than in Afghanistan, and more casualties were suffered. And in Iraq I would argue that you had a lot more house-to-house fighting." "Our troops don't just all of a sudden commit courageous acts at a date certain and just because it's Afghanistan. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., a combat veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan. "So the question is, how is the system broken? Because it is," says Rep. The seven others honored were killed in action. Obama awarded the medal to the first of five living recipients in 2010, and all five - Carter, three other soldiers and a Marine - were honored for bravery in Afghanistan. The Bush and Obama administrations have identified no one alive worthy of that honor from that war. Though many praise the growing number of Medals of Honor approved in recent years - nine given during the second six years of war compared with three during the first six years after 9/11 - they're frustrated by the paucity of these awards from Iraq. Critics fear the time to chronicle fleeting moments of gallantry from a dozen years of war is fast slipping away. troops prepare to come home by the end of 2014. The history of the Afghanistan War, the nation's longest, has nearly been written as combat operations wind down and U.S. (and) how we can get true heroes recognized for their service on the battlefield," says Jay Agg, communication director for the 180,000-member veterans group AmVets. "We feel the number is still low, and we support a DoD (Department of Defense) review to find out why. And it is too few in striking comparison with the 137 awarded for actions in the Korean War, 249 in Vietnam and 467 in World War II, they say. He's only the 12th servicemember to receive the nation's highest award for valor in as many years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.Ĭritics say 12 Medals of Honor are far too few, given the 2.5 million Americans who served in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts that left nearly 7,000 of them dead and about 50,000 wounded. "Are you going to die behind something, or are you going to die standing and firing? Are you going to die pushing forward or falling back?"Ĭarter, married and the father or stepfather of three, will accept the Medal of Honor from President Obama at the White House on Monday.
"When good men are dying all around you, you have to decide what your last moments are going to be like," recalls the 33-year-old Army staff sergeant and cavalry scout in an interview. Surrounded by dead Americans and running low on ammunition, they shot and killed enemy fighters breaching the walls.
When he wasn't moving through enemy fire in the battle in 2009, Carter and another soldier made their stand in an all-but-shredded armored vehicle - a last defensive bastion in a far corner of the fort. A dozen times, Carter ran a gauntlet of heavy machine gun and sniper fire - carrying ammo, recovering a field radio, cradling a wounded comrade in his arms - sometimes zigzagging to dodge exploding rocket-propelled grenades or mortar rounds. He sprinted over ground where he could see bullets piercing the dust in front of him, gambling on getting ahead of the shooters' ability to target him. Ty Carter ran low and fast across an American outpost while overwhelming numbers of Taliban fighters closed in.