A Colorado solider killed in combat in Afghanistan was nearing the end of a nine-month deployment.
The Defense Department said Tuesday that 22-year-old Spc. Gabriel D. Conde of Loveland died April 30 after he was hit by enemy small arms fire in the Tagab District of Afghanistan.
Conde, an airborne infantryman, was assigned to the 25th Infantry Division at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.
Army spokesman Lt. Col. Martyn Crighton told the Loveland Reporter-Herald that the division was expected to return to Alaska in the coming weeks.
Conde graduated from Berthoud High School and attended the Colorado School of Mines for a year before leaving to join the Army. His high school cross country coach, Kristi Leonard, says he felt a calling to enter the military.
