CHAPLAIN LIEUTENANT COLONEL
DAVID C. “CLAY” CARROLL
Lt. Col. David Clay Carroll is the Chaplain at the I. G. Brown Training and Education Center at McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base, Tennessee. Lt. Col. Carroll is responsible for providing religious accommodation, confidential counseling, and advising leadership on unit morale and ethical issues for over 90 staff and more than 600 students annually. He accomplishes these tasks through instructing enlisted leaders, conducting Strong Bonds retreats, building strong relationships with community faith leaders and leading weekly faith-based events to strengthen the spiritual resiliency of the TEC.
Chaplain Carroll was commissioned in September 2010 into the 226th Combat Communications Group, Alabama Air National Guard, Abston Air National Guard Station, Alabama. As an additional part of his ministry to the 226th Combat Communications Group, he has serviced the 232nd Combat Communications Squadron and the 280th Special Operations Combat Communications Squadron as well as the 187th Medical Group Detachment 001 all located across Alabama. After graduating from Commissioned Officer Training School in September 2011, he served for more than 15 years in the Air National Guard. While living in Louisiana from 2011 -2014, he voluntarily led worship services for the 122nd Air Support Operations Squadron, Pineville, Louisiana and the 259th Air Traffic Control Squadron, Alexandria, Louisiana. Both are geographically separated squadrons of the 159th Fighter Wing, Louisiana Air National Guard, New Orleans, Louisiana. Then in 2014, he was selected for a one-year active-duty operational support tour as the chaplain for the Academy of Military Science, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. Since 2015 and prior to becoming the TEC chaplain in January 2026, he was the unit chaplain for the 226th Combat Communications Group, Alabama Air National Guard, Abston ANGS, Alabama.
Chaplain Carroll has served in full-time pastoral ministry for more than 25 years as a youth minister, pastor, and chaplain. In 2011, he began serving as a full-time Federal Bureau of Prisons Chaplain in Pollock, Louisiana. In August 2015, he became the Supervisory Chaplain at the Federal Correctional Institution in Aliceville, Alabama where he will continue to serve upon the completion of this assignment.
EDUCATION
1999 Bachelors of Science, Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Ala.
2002 Masters of Divinity, Samford University, Birmingham, Ala.
2011 Commissioned Officer Training School, Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala.
2012 Basic Chaplain Course, Fort Jackson Army Base, Columbia, S.C.
2013 Squadron Officer School, by correspondence
2015 Air National Guard Clinical Pastoral Education, Certification Credit, Divide, Colo.
2019 Deputy Wing Chaplain Course, Maxwell AFB, Ala.
2020 Air Command and Staff College, by correspondence
2023 ANG Crisis Action Team Augmentee Training, National Guard Bureau Readiness Center, Joint Base Andrews Air Force Base, Md.
2024 Chaplain Corps Readiness Train the Trainer Course, U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Operations School, Joint Base McGuire-Dix, Lakehurst, N.J.
ASSIGNMENTS
- August 2013 – October 2013, Chaplain, Academy of Military Science, Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala.
- May 2014 -- July 2014, Chaplain, Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps, Maxwell AFB, Ala.
- August 2014 – July 2015, Chaplain, Academy of Military Science, Maxwell AFB, Ala.
- September 2010 – January 2026, Chaplain, 226th Combat Communications Group, Abston Air National Guard Station, Ala.
- January 2026 – present, Chaplain, I.G. Brown Training and Education Center, McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base, Tenn.
MAJOR AWARDS AND DECORATIONS
Air Force Meritorious Service Medal with oak leaf cluster
Air Force Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster
Air Force Achievement Medal with oak leaf cluster
Air and Space Outstanding Unit Award with three oak leaf clusters
EFFECTIVE DATES OF PROMOTION
Captain September 19, 2010
Major March 15, 2015
Lieutenant Colonel May 1, 2021
(Current as of April 2026)