Snyder spent most of his teenage years in foster care in Colorado after his parents divorced.

Prior to his deployment to Iraq, he requested a discharge through his chain of command "for medical reasons of manic depression.

On October 31, 2006, PFC Snyder held a press conference prior to turning himself in to the US Army at Fort Knox.

[4] The decision to arrest came after information from an undisclosed source prompted the Nelson City Police to contact the Canada Border Services Agency who, according to Nelson Police Chief Constable Dan Maluta "said yes, we believe he is illegally in Canada and arrestable under the Immigration Act".

[5] Maluta acknowledged that the immigration agency was not their "original source" for information on Snyder,[5] and Snyder reported that Josie Perry, the Canadian immigration official who ordered his release, had said that the arrest had been conducted at the behest of officials from the U.S.