Vice Admiral and career Naval Aviator Walter “Ted” Carter of Pascoag, now Superintendent of the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, earned his Naval Flight Officer wings in 1982. Since then, Admiral Carter, a record-setting “Top Gun” aviator, has made 2,016 landings (called “traps”) on aircraft carriers; that is more than anyone else in US Navy history.

Carter’s call sign of “Slapshot” reflects his career as a star hockey player in college. He is the first Burrillville HS grad to ever attend the Naval Academy, graduating in 1981. He flew 125 combat missions in support of joint operations in Bosnia, Kosovo, Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. Carter accumulated 6,150 flight hours in F-4, F-14, and F-18 aircraft during his career. He has commanded a strike fighter squadron, a fast combat support ship, the supercarrier USS Carl Vinson and a carrier strike group.

Before President Obama nominated him to serve as the Naval Academy’s 62nd Superintendent, Carter was President of the Naval War College in Newport. So far in his career he has earned a number of personal awards, to include the Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal (two awards), Legion of Merit (three awards), Distinguished Flying Cross with Combat V, Bronze Star, Air Medal (two with Combat V and five strike/flight), and Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (two with Combat V). He was awarded the Vice Admiral James Bond Stockdale Leadership Award and the U.S. Navy League’s John Paul Jones Award for Inspirational Leadership.