JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. – The second of three Medal of Honor recipients at Joint Base Lewis McChord left the Army this week.
A spokesman from the 7th Infantry Division announced Friday that Staff Sgt. Ty Michael Carter, 34, was returning to civilian life, The News Tribune reported.
The division held a ceremony for Carter at the base on Friday, presenting him with end-of-service awards. Thesoldier chose to keep the event private.
Carter received the Medal of Honor in August 2013 for the bravery he showed in an October 2009 battle in which a force of some 300 Afghan insurgents almost overwhelmed his unit at a combat outpost in Afghanistan's Nuristan Province. Eight U.S. soldiers died in the fighting.
During that battle, Carter served with the 4th Brigade, 4th Infantry Division out of Fort Carson, Colorado. He returned to Afghanistan in 2012 as a soldier in Joint Base Lewis McChord's 2nd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division.
Since he received the medal, Carter has been a visible advocate for soldiers. He has urged them to get help for post-traumatic stress.
Carter grew up in Spokane and in the San Francisco Bay Area. He settled in Yelm with his wife and their three children.
On Friday morning, he gave the keynote address at the Race for a Soldier breakfast in Gig Harbor.
Carter often gave speeches and interviews in which he encouraged people to drop the "d'' from "PTSD." It was his way of saying post-traumatic stress is a normal response to combat, not a disorder.
For much of the past year, Joint Base Lewis McChord was home to all three soldiers who chose to stay in theArmy after receiving the Medal of Honor for their actions in Afghanistan.
One was Master Sergeant Leroy Petry of the base's 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, who retired from the Army in July. The other is Capt. William Swenson, who re-commissioned in the Army after receiving the medal last year. He serves in Joint Base Lewis McChord I Corps.
