SSG Joshua Z. Beale

22 January 2019, Afghanistan

Special Forces

A resident of Carrollton, Virginia, Staff Sergeant Joshua Z. Beale died on 22 January 2019 from wounds sustained in action in Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan.

Beale enlisted in the Army in 2011 as a Special Forces Candidate. He completed Infantry One Station Unit Training and Airborne School at Fort Benning, Georgia. Upon graduation from the Special Forces Qualification Course in 2013, he was assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, as a Special Forces Weapons Sergeant. He deployed to Operation ENDURING FREEDOM in 2014, Operation FREEDOM’S SENTINEL in 2015, and Nigeria in 2016.

SSG Beale was supporting Operation FREEDOM’S SENTINEL with his detachment when he was fatally struck by enemy small arms fire.