Special Report:US Soldier KIA in Somalia Identified - Green Beret had intel links

The Pentagon has identified the US Army Soldier killed in action by the al-Qaida affiliate al-Shabaab on Friday in Somalia as SSG Alexander W. Conrad,26,of Chandler,Arizona.The native of Mesa,Arizona was a member of 1st Battalion,3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) out of Fort Bragg,North Carolina.SSG Conrad was serving alongside Somali National Security Forces and Kenyan Defence Forces in Jubaland State when they were attacked around 1445 hrs by mortars and small arms fire.He was killed by indirect enemy fire,i.e.,mortar shells or an IED.Four other US Soldiers and a Somali Soldier were wounded.
The allied forces were on a clearing operation to remove al-Shabaab from contested areas and villages and establish a permanent combat outpost to expand the control of the the Somali Federal Government.*
According to 3rd Special Forces Group,SSG Conrad had joined the Army in 2010 and,following basic and follow-on training,was stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord,Washington State,as a human intelligence (HUMINT) collector.While stationed at the Joint Base,he pulled two tours in Afghanistan.Subsequently,SSG Conrad advanced his HUMINT collection skills by completing the French Basic Language Course at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center in Monterey,California in 2016.He was consequently assigned to 3rd SFG as a HUMINT Non-Commissioned Officer.*
By way of context,it should be noted that,indeed,3rd SFG has from its inception in 1963 been oriented to Africa and the Middle East,being nearly continuously active in the wars in Afghanistan and,somewhat less,in Iraq as well,at the peak of those conflagrations.As the US role in these wars was reduced,3rd SFG began to shift its emphasis to Africa and the rise of militant Islam on that continent.
Before SSG Conrad's death,3rd SFG had sustained four other KIAs in Africa in October 2017,when four of its Soldiers were killed in Niger in West Africa.
The remaining al-Shabaab stronghold in Somalia is the regions around the capital,Mogadishu.At the time of the Jubaland engagement,the 3rd SFG was providing advice,assistance and aerial surveillance to the African forces there by means including an armed UAV. *
SSG Conrad was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and Meritorious Service Medals.He had also been decorated with the Army Commendation Medal (3rd award);Army Good Conduct Medal (2nd award);Combat Action Badge;Basic Parachutist Badge;and Meritorious Unit Commendation (second award).*
"Greater love hath no man than this,that a man lay down his life for his friends."
- John 15:13                 '