Obama awards Medal of Honor to second veteran of COP Keating battle

Earlier this year, Obama awarded Army Staff Sgt. Clint Romesha the Medal of Honor for his actions during the ferocious firefight at COP Keating in Eastern Afghanistan. 

{mosads}Carter joins Staff Sgt. Sal Giunta and Marine Cpl. Dakota Meyer as the most recent batch of Afghan veterans to be awarded the U.S. military’s highest battlefield commendation. 

The daylong battle at COP Keating resulted in Carter and Romesha earning the Medal of Honor and their unit, 3rd Troop, 61st Cavalry Regiment, becoming “one of the most highly decorated units of this entire war,” Obama said on Monday. 

But after all the commendations and medals, the battle for COP Keating was “the story of what our troops do for each other,” the president said. 

Obama also recognized the other veterans of the COP Keating battle who were in attendance during Monday’s award ceremony. 

In October 2009, Carter, Romesha and the roughly 50 American troops holding COP Keating were nearly overrun by a force of 300 Taliban fighters. 

U.S. troops endured multiple mortar and rocket barrages, backed by unrelenting rifle and machine gun fire, as Taliban fighters attempted to breach the perimeter of the base, located in the volatile Nuristan province in Eastern Afghanistan. 

Soldiers with 3-61 endured wave after wave of Taliban fighters, finding themselves pinned down most of the battle by a wall of bombs and bullets. 

But U.S. forces at COP Keating held the line and repelled the massive enemy offensive, making the battle one of the most intense of the entire Afghan war.