Alexander Snyder was born January 18, 1986. He resided for most of his childhood in Rice Lake, Wisconsin, and graduated from Rice Lake High School in 2004. He enlisted in the Army National Guard in October 2003, at the age of 17. He served two tours of duty in Iraq, one as an infantryman with the Wisconsin Army National Guard in 2005-2006, and one as a public affairs specialist (military journalist) with the Arizona Army National Guard in 2008-2009. In 2013, Alex re-enlisted in the Wisconsin Army National Guard to deploy to Qatar with his brother, Anton. This deployment was cancelled, and Alex left the military the following year.

Alex attended UW-Barron County in 2005 and UW-Eau Claire from 2007-2008 and 2009-2011. He graduated in 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts in Public History.

Alex had a strong interest in photography, thoroughly documenting his service in the Army. Some of his photographs were published in The Expeditionary Times, an Army newspaper that his unit oversaw during their 2008-2009 deployment. Locally, Alex was interviewed by The Spectator for a February 7, 2008, news story about his time served in Iraq and how he documented it with his camera. The story is located in The Spectator