FORT BRAGG, N.C. — A 41-year-old Green Beret who was on his fourth combat deployment has been killed by small arms fire in Afghanistan.

U.S. Army Special Operations Command spokesman Loren Bymer at North Carolina’s Fort Bragg said in a statement that Sgt. 1st Class Jeremy W. Griffin died Monday.

Griffin was from Greenbrier, Tennessee, and was a Special Forces communications sergeant based at Joint Base Lewis-McCord in Washington state.

Bymer said Griffin was engaged in combat operations in Afghanistan’s Wardak Province.

Col. Owen G. Ray, commander, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne), said Griffin was a “warrior” and a “respected and loved Special Forces Soldier.”

Griffin joined the Army in 2004. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart.

He is the 17th American servicemember to die this year in Afghanistan.

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