“Black Hawk Down” was a 2001 movie dramatizing the epic battle that took place on October 3-4, 1993 in Mogadishu, Somalia. The original mission involved an assault to capture several high value targets. In addition to a ground component, the plan called for Special Operations forces to be inserted by air. They would be ferried by pilots of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, a unit comprised of some of the best pilots in our military.
“Super 61” piloted by Cliff Wolcott would be the first helicopter to be downed by a rocket propelled grenade. Soon the mission would evolve from an extraction to a rescue operation.
“Super 64” a Black Hawk piloted by Michael Durant would be the second to be shot down. While Michael agrees that hitting a moving helicopter with an RPG is not easy, the enemy’s odds increased because of the hundreds of rockets fired.
Michael suffered a broken right femur and several crushed vertebrae in the crash. The rest of his crew survived the initial crash with various injuries. Gary Gordon & Randy Shughart, two Delta Force snipers, begged to be dropped off at the crash site. They would become the first American soldiers to be awarded the Medal of Honor since Vietnam. Having expended nearly all their ammunition, Michael’s fellow crew members and the two Delta operators all succumbed to Somali gunfire. Michael suggests he would have met the same fate had the word not spread that a warlord wanted a live hostage.
Michael would spend 11 days in Somalian captivity. He shares some of that experience including the observation by a Red Cross professional about a case of “Reverse Stockholm Syndrome” that developed between himself and his guards.
Michael says that all the real “main characters” in the Black Hawk Down film were allowed to review and comment on the script and most of their suggestions were incorporated. One scene that was NOT accurate, however, showed Michael engaging the enemy from the cockpit while in reality, he had been moved out of the Black Hawk by that time.
Listeners may support the families of fallen Special Forces personnel by contributing to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. https://specialops.org/