 Carroll was born in Chicago, the second of five sons of late U.S. Air Force General Joseph F. Carroll, and his wife Mary.At the time, his father was a Special Agent of the FBI, which he remained until being seconded to, and later commissioned by, the U.S. Air Force as the first commander of the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations in 1948.After this, Carroll was raised in the Washington, D.C. area and in Germany.