By the time they got there, the infiltrators appeared to be holed up in an old building being used as a kitchen. Together with a small group of Ugandans, including some senior officers, Fredricks, 55, raced back to the airfield.

When word reached Fredricks, he was across town at another Ugandan base, combining a work meeting with a Christmas celebration. It would also be one of the final moments of Brett Fredricks’s life.Īt least eight al-Shabab fighters, some dressed in Somali national army uniforms, had infiltrated the base, then made their way to arms caches apparently stashed by Somali workers who had easy access to the complex. It was taking place inside the international force’s heavily secured base at Mogadishu airport. The retired member of the Army’s famed and secretive Delta Force was huddling with Ugandan soldiers planning an assault on an enemy position during a firefight with al-Shabab guerrillas. It was lunchtime on Christmas Day in Mogadishu, and Brett Fredricks was doing what he loved.

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