MCRD/ERR PARRIS ISLAND, S.C. -- When Staff Sgt. Matthew Carmon awoke on the morning of Jan. 8, 2002, little did he know that his inherent reliance on a key aspect of his Marine Corps training would ultimately result in a cop killer being brought to justice.
From their first moments on the Yellow Footprints, all Marines are taught to take immediate notice of their surroundings to maintain situational awareness that may one day save the lives of themselves or the Marines around them. Few envision the trait will ever benefit anyone outside the gate.
When Carmon saw a man crawling through a marsh on Joe Frazier Road more than two years ago, he intuitively realized something was amiss, and stopped to investigate.
In so doing, he unknowingly helped Beaufort County law enforcement officials apprehend a dangerous criminal who had just murdered two Beaufort County Sheriff Deputies in cold blood.
The two sherrif's deputies, Cpl. Dyke Coursen and Lance Cpl. Dana L. Tate, had just hours earlier been gunned down by Tyree Roberts at his home, and then taken to the swamps to evade capture.
For his actions, Carmon was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal in a formation at the Depot's historic Yellow Footprints May 4.
"It felt nice to receive the medal," said Carmon, a drill instructor with Hotel Co., 2nd RTBn. "It made me feel good about what I did, but I never expected anything in return."
Carmon recalled what happened that day when he saw the murder suspect
crawling through the marsh to avoid the authorities.
"I probably watched this guy for about 35 minutes, not really knowing what to think," Carmon said. "I never see anybody on this road, and with all the police cars in the area, I knew something wasn't right."
He said a police car passed him by when he first pulled over, but when it came back around a second time, Carmon flagged the officer down.
"I was shocked when I found out what was going on," he said. "I was in Drill Instructor School at the time. I tried to be quiet about what I did ... I didn't think it was that big of deal. But after everyone found out about what happened, they all wanted to talk to me about it and arrange meetings. I was worried that I was going to get dropped for having to leave all the time."
Despite the additional worrying he suffered, Carmon feels no regrets for what he did.
"I reacted the way I did because I figured somebody needed help," he said. "When someone is in trouble, you help them. That's just how I was raised. But I don't think I was the only one who would have reacted that way. There are plenty of Marines out there that would have done the same thing. I was just at the right place at the wrong time."
He may have been in the area at the "wrong time", but the Beaufort County Sheriff's Department is very appreciative of Carmon's help in catching the suspect.
"Had he not been there, a number of things could have happened," said Lt. Col. David Brown, Beaufort County Sheriff's Department chief of staff. "It definitely would have prolonged the search ... the suspect could have broke perimeter and we could have been out there for days. I think it's an outstanding gesture by the military to recognize what he did for us."
Brown, who presented Carmon a plaque at the awards ceremony, praises Carmon for doing the right thing when he probably had other things to tend to.
"He probably could have been studying or doing other things to prepare for the next day, but instead, he put all that aside to do what was right," said Brown.
Captain Nicholas Martz, commanding officer of Recruit Processing Company who presented Carmon with the medal, agreed with Brown on how Carmon handled the situation.
"The majority of people would have just driven past and minded their own business," Martz said. "He just simply did the right thing."