Black Hawk Down The Untold Story - Director's Cut

foreign once a helicopter goes down that becomes  in military terminology a baited ambush   it's the bait this was going to be a different  game is going to be a bar fight at the time   Mogadishu was easily the most intense fight  that we had been in since the Vietnam War   I didn't know half of those rangers I didn't  know one of them by name but they were an   American Soldier they had the same uniform  I had and we weren't going home without them every American has seen the shocking images  from Somalia the scope of suffering there   is hard to imagine already over a quarter  million people have died in the Somali famine   in the months ahead five times that number one and  a half million people could starve to death food   convoys had been hijacked Aid workers assaulted  ships with food have been subject to artillery   attacks that prevented them from docking there  is no government in Somalia Law and Order have   broken down Anarchy prevails one image tells  the story imagine seven thousand tons of food   Aid literally bursting out of a warehouse on a  dock in Mogadishu while somalis starve less than   a kilometer away because relief workers cannot  run the gauntlet of armed gangs roving the city   I have given the order to move a substantial  American Force into Somalia as I speak a Marine   Amphibious ready Group which we maintain at Sea  is offshore Mogadishu these troops will be joined   by elements of the first Marine Expeditionary  Force based out of Camp Pendleton California   and by the Army's 10th Mountain division out  of Fort Drum New York they are America's Finest   they will perform this Mission with courage  and compassion and they will succeed   more than five books several documentary  films and even an academy award-winning   movie have told a story about the battle in  Mogadishu what many refer to as Black Hawk Down   but none have properly told the  story of task force 214. till now [Music]   President Bush's special Envoy was emphasizing  this is a humanitarian Mission and not a military   Mission nonetheless tomorrow Robert Oakley will be  meeting with the various Warlords of this country   and he'll be spelling out to them in great detail  just how much Firepower will be coming ashore on   Wednesday operation restore Hope just can't start  soon enough within three months U.S and United   Nations military forces had significantly reduced  the violence in Somalia for the most part the   famine had ended the majority of U.S troops came  home and the United Nations Forces took charge   of peacekeeping operations however on the very  day U.S forces departed warlord Muhammad faradid   began attacking rival Warlords and disrupting  humanitarian relief efforts food had once again   become a tool of political power food becomes  a currency of itself and you know now you're   sitting in a port city of Mogadishu where all the  food is coming in and somebody has to control that   right and that's where you know I like to use  the example of the third tribe you know now you   introduce this third tribe called the UN um you  know into this environment where it now has the   the ability to do the food distribution and that's  where the real power is that's where the influence   is and if you're if you're a hobby good deer if  you're Abdul I mean this isn't something that   that uh you know now that food is currency this  is not something that you're you're going to allow   to continue to existing at any cost under any guys  becomes the only mean for survival the risk itself   become really nonsensical and uh and life is cheap  I saw people in the harbor of Mogadishu being shot   uh because of a bag of rice in front of my eyes  on June 5th the deed's forces killed 25 Pakistani   soldiers and wounded 44. you say this Somali  operation has been a success does that mean that   the United States and U.N forces have captured  the Somali warlord General Muhammad Farah ID no   they have not been arrested the purpose of the  operation was to undermine the capacity of Hadid   Tariq military havoc in Mogadishu  he murdered 23 U.N peacekeepers   and I would remind you that before the United  States and the United Nations showed up he was   responsible for the deaths of countless somalis  from starvation from disease and from killing   the back the military back of Hadid has been  broken a warrant has been issued for his arrest   in Late July the second Battalion of the 14th  Infantry 10th Mountain division arrived in   Mogadishu to serve as a quick reaction force for  military units from 21 Nations serving under the   U.N flag this U.N force was now operating under  the authority of U.N Charter chapter 7 peace   enforcement a far more aggressive military  mission one rarely used but necessary in a   country where there is no government in August  and September troops from the 10th Mountain   division were engaged in numerous fire fights  with the deed's forces peace enforcement was   just a euphemism for politicians and academics  for the soldiers in Mogadishu Urban combat was a   far more accurate Mission description on August  22nd Secretary of Defense Les Aspen ordered the   deployment of Task Force Ranger to Somalia  their mission capture Muhammad Farah Hadid   Task Force Ranger is organized with an assault  force of individuals from Delta Force they're   the ones that actually execute the actions on the  objective you've got a security Force which was   a Ranger Infantry company which is designed to  contain people inside the objective from leaving   and prevent people from outside the objective of  entering and you have a support Force out of Task   Force 160 Special Operations Aviation regiment  which can do a variety of things either provide   fire support and evacuate dead and wounded  can bring in additional ammunition medical   supplies food if you need to stay there a long  period of time so you have three elements that   doctrinally execute raids and these Warriors  are the best the United States has I mean they   are the best really really real real pros I  think they'd be the first to agree they were   given a very very very difficult Mission if  not if not a mission impossible we 214 had a   task force Ranger liaison element with us in our  headquarters there's a major Craig Mixon was our   LNO we worked on both you know the command post  exercises I participated in training with the 10th   Mountain Battalion also went out on operations  with 10th Mountain so every time that they would   go out on their operations I would participate  with them and then when when Task Force Ranger   would conduct operations I would basically stay  in the command post and then keep 10th Mountain   abreast of what what they were doing where  they were at and whether they needed any help   qrfs as they're called typically are used when  there are not sufficient forces in country to   handle the mission our purpose for being there  was to respond to any requirement that was   deemed necessary by the the UN Mission it included  securing roads or main supply routes it included   conducting raids to take down weapons caches  or reduce the number of weapons within the city   um and and it included responding to downed  aircraft or any other incident that involved   any other U.N Force we were not embedded with Task  Force Ranger so we weren't in on the planning of   their missions we were at least knowledgeable  as to uh okay they've got some Intel they're   going to go out on a mission you know we  as a qrf did not have a specified mission   something concrete just because they launched on  a raid based on actionable Intel uh we noted it   because we we knew we could get the call but until  we got the call wasn't really anything we could do   but on three October we got the call and what  prompted the call was helicopter got shot down [Applause] we all heard it at the same time just a radio  call and then as soon as soon as we heard it   the chopper down I went running out and got the  company alerted uh and I mean we could do it in   probably about 10 minutes be on the trucks because  we had everything ready all you had to do is just   throw in your gear and some aircraft got shot  down and there was a need then for additional   conventional forces to commend to the fight and  they called the second Battalion 14th Infantry   10th Mountain division well when we moved to the  Airfield we really didn't have a plan because   the initial mission was come to the Airfield in  the event that the Task Force Ranger needs you   sometime between us receiving the  call and arriving at the Airfield   um the truth changed so the truth changed  from come to the Airfield in the event Task   Force Ranger needs you to get to the Airfield  as soon as you can because we need to Colonel   David and I went into the op Center and we  met with General Garrison and believe we   met with the set of folks are there we got  a a briefing on what had occurred um and   we got quick instructions as to the route we're  going to take when the colonel came out of there   I can look in his eyes and the only thing I  said to myself was oh [ __ ] this is not good   it was a clear-cut mission and a very confusing  environment I mean there was nothing particularly   perplexing about moving into a crash site to  recover survivors or death the challenging   things were we didn't know exactly we couldn't  plot the crash site exactly on our maps and there were bad guys that were trying to prevent us  from getting to that crash site okay from the very   beginning because once a helicopter goes down that  becomes in military terminology a baited ambush   it's the bait that's the bait because the bad  guys know that we don't leave our dead and   wounded behind we go get them so that becomes  debate and they know we're coming and there's   only a certain number of ways you can get there  so under the under the circumstances there was   really not much discussion we opted for taking  a route that was the fastest way possible of   getting to that crash site oh by the way by this  time a second helicopter had also been shot down Task Force Ranger needed assistance so Charlie Company assembled on the airstrip  colonel talked to him and gave a quick scenario   brief and how we're going to entrust into this as we boarded these light-skinned vehicles that we  had with sandbags and plywood as a more protection   we started moving Mike Whetstone was the  the company commander in lead we hit it was   relatively you know uneventful until we hit the  K4 Circle as we were approaching the K4 traffic   circle there were actually a couple of Task Force  Ranger Humvees headed the opposite direction   and they've been hit and as we were about ready  to clear the circle they were headed south and   they entered into basically it was a Kill Zone  or Ambush Kill Zone everything erupted right   there at K4 traffic circle and it was RPGs and and  nothing but tracers and the walls on both sides of   the violin and just coming apart I remember the  thought I had at that moment in time was um I'm   not going home um this is this is where I'm gonna  die I'm gonna die right here in this firefight   so we kept going and then the next place  we got hit was right at National street   because they had completely blocked it off  with crushed carbs and uh burning tires   and then we kept going still because of  that well you weren't going to stop there   so we kept going until we got to the milk  factory which was completely blocked off   and so there was no way out of that  because it was just it was like three   cars deep trucks debris everything all over  it plus it was completely covered by fire   so that is where I made the decision we had to  turn around a decision was made to pull back   okay and reassemble we needed a bigger boat  that we did not have sufficient combat power   to push through the burning barricades and to push  through to get to the uh to the southern crashland   then we had to run right back through the gauntlet  again which was just about the same thing so   we had one truck that just barely made it  back all its tires shot out windows shot out   everything just trashed but that was right at  dusk and I think it was at that moment that   kind of the the whole gravitas the situation hit  me that um that these guys were really in trouble   and [Music] and we were gonna have to get  him out there was nobody else it was us um and I actually had a  flashback to a a talk that uh during the Infantry pre-command course when  you get selected for entry Battalion command   or Brigade command you've got a number  of pre-command courses you go to and   support Fort Benning Georgia and the  assistant commandant of the Infantry School   retired major eventually retired as a two star um it was it was a one star at the time was was uh  we're having breakfast Carl Ernst was his name and   he during the breakfast he's he was very candid  about it he said you know during your time in   command um there's a good chance you'll deploy to  combat somewhere and um and just remember you know   you're expendable um don't stain  the colors of your regiment   that you're Expendable the regimental callers live  on after you so you know we have this like near   Miss in the uh in the Amber site I have this  realization that this pretty grave situation   and 14th Infantry Regiment has a very  long and proud regimental lineage   and um I just kind of made my mind up that  you know we're not going to stay in the colors   tonight you know we're gonna we're gonna we're  gonna we're gonna we're gonna come through so   that was about it and after that it was uh it's  not because I'm some John Wayne gung-ho guy it's   not it at all I just literally got my mind  focused on let's get this Mission done and uh and we did reconsolidate and reorganize so we we  had to get our wounded off first and then we had   to find out what we didn't have left which was a  lot of ammo okay and uh we didn't we needed water   because those are two things you burn fastest I  knew we needed Norm Romeo is one of the things   that I thought of the whole time I don't care who  we could get armor from but we needed to get it to   get back in there in May 1993 senior U.S military  leaders requested the deployment of U.S armored   vehicles to protect U.S forces these vehicles  would offer protection from machine gun fire and   even rocket-propelled grenades Secretary  of Defense Les Aspen denied this request   became apparent to me that we were going to have  to devise a new plan with something a little   bit different I'm back at the Airfield I've got  Charlie Company largely intact pretty tired Alpha   Company fresh and back in the task force range or  operations center to get a new estimate of what's   going on and um huddle a little bit with General  guile and general Garrison and then back out with   my boys to make a new plan and oh by the way move  to the Newport facility where we're going to link   up with some a couple of Malaysian mechanized  Victory companies and pick up a Pakistani   tank platoon while we're at it the apcs are more  survivable than what we had which were two and a   half ton trucks with sandbags on the floor inside  and offered no overhead protection whatsoever and   very limited protection on the sides against an  enemy that's you know firing RPGs and able to get   on roofs of buildings and shoot down the plan we  came up with was um was to ask the Malaysians to   remove their infantry soldiers from their vehicles  so that we could use them and they acquiesced   to that and it's really hard to describe as  the complexity of what was going on because   by definition when you say quick reaction force  but you're basically saying things of things have   gone to hell so much happened over the next couple  of hours it was just a very fluid thing both in   terms of what was going on on the objective areas  where we had two aircraft down and then are trying   to prepare and get everything moved moving in the  direction to support operations I refer to it in   my journal about just the stress associated with  the constant sort of gut-wrenching feelings that   you're feeling which is we've got to do this now  everything is in a hurry and it's not about hurry   um for the sense of going fast it was hurried  because we had a lot of American soldiers being   shot at guys who were seriously wounded people  who were killed and the immense pressure just   associated with that coupled with the fact that  we moved out to the airfields we sort of get a   briefing that things were were staging tanks and  armored personnel carriers for your company to go   in that we had never even been in before we'd  even not open the doors so getting everybody   figured out which vehicles they were going to go  in we have to get to the the port facility so we   could go out because the route we were going to  take was through there and then the coordination   with the Pakistani the two tanks that I had the  APC commanders none of them spoke we never we   didn't speak the same languages getting all the  ammunition getting all my guys into Vehicles   letting the leaders know the plans of what we were  doing with that constant nagging we have to hurry   or help when all were gathered around the front  of the Humvee a map was down one of the things   that was discussed was the most effective route  to get into where the crash sites were were to   go through the obgall area because if we could  get into the ab Gall area and get up to National   Street we would get up there without without  taking fire we would avoid what occurred at K4   Circle and and that plan was absolutely the right  plan it was absolutely the right coal because it   preserved the force prior to getting us into the  fight we did our radio checks and we did our you   know weapons checks and we mounted up under oh  you're going to mount up on these vehicles and   we got on these things we'd never seen before  we spent quite some time with trying to figure   out remember how to open the doors and how to  close the door we had never seen these vehicles   a big white vehicles with un painted on the  side of them kind of deal and I'm just like   all right we're going into a gunfight with a white  vehicle it was a big white solid piece of metal   um and we're like we're gonna be like a sitting  Target in this thing you know it's dark and uh   this thing's like glowing white we got in  these things and we couldn't speak to the   drivers and made to the crew and they couldn't  speak to us there was a significant level of   um concern I think on all parties because there  were Americans not only in contact contact but   there were Americans that were dying um in  combat and so there was a a real sense of   urgency that we had to get everything moving the  challenge was that we're only going to get one   more shot and and if we don't do it right now we  may not get another shot it was a moment for me   that all the training that we went through this was our destiny and as I trooped the line   and I looked just about every soldier  in the eye as I will walk by him if eyes could talk their eyes to me would say or prepare child major  and my back to them would have said I know you   are there's a thing that General Garrison talked  about being deliberate Valor and the willingness   to go into the fight come back out of it and  then go back into the fight so all of these   units 10th mountain did that task force ran the  elements of Task Force Ranger did that you're   combining them then you combine the Malaysians  then you combine the pakistanis and then you   throw them into the streets of Mogadishu that is  as complex as it's going to get it's a matter of   eating major disease at the time who was going  to take us the use the Malaysian Commander   it was going to take us into the fight major  disease is actually a Wonder to work with in   the end I couldn't have been blessed with a with  a better man to get me through the night so there   was about 99 or so ranges from task force rangers  that were on the ground that included both Delta   operators and Rangers and we had uh task force  160th was fine and support put them in and they're   also flying various types of aircraft to give them  air cover and support and then roughly speaking   about 340 350 or so members of the 214 along  with some Rangers there's about I think a dozen   or more maybe 15 16 Rangers some Delta operators  probably about six or eight Delta operators all   part of task force 214. thankfully um you know  we did have a I think is a part of that plan   they the the pieces for Success meaning you know  we had the Task Force Ranger Eleanor and that's   Eleanor I guess team that allowed or facilitated  the communication which prevented the pressure   side that that could have occurred um that was  an extremely critical piece uh you also had in   my estimation a well-trained uh Battalion task  force that had already been hardened by battle   understood what needed to be done and and was  capable of of executing uh once it understood   what the requirement was and so I believe the  combination of those two things in addition to   some tremendous leadership at every level because  the plan was that the Pakistani tanks would lead   well right before we were ready  to pull out of the Newport area   there was a captain in charge of the  Pakistani tank platoon he had received   orders from his Brigade Commander  that he was not allowed to lead   so we had to deviate the plan a little bit and put  move the Pakistani tanks a little bit further back   in the column so these Malaysian Condors could  could lead and go when I finally came back it   looked like the plan was created and what we're  going to do how we're going to break on through   which is no longer to assist the Rangers but  rescue the Rangers sir we're ready to March   it just seemed like the timing was all wrong  and nothing was going to be in our favor   you know granted we We Own the Night but we  didn't really own the streets of Mogadishu   and you know even going in with a force  like that it just seems like you know   this was going to be a different game  is going to be a bar fight [Applause] as we turn down the national Street you know  the whole world changes everyone the entire   um you know black Sierra bakar Market  area has come to the party and they've   all brought brought weapons with them  and you know from my perspective riding   in an open Humvee uh which you know for  those who have not had the experience of   riding in an open MB in combat is is much  like riding in a uh a convertible Corvette   um you know down down Main Street during the  parade and everyone in the parade is shooting   at you soon as we turned and went down National  Street uh you know the bullets just erupted   it was the first you know we could really see the  tracers flying back and forth across the street   it was a veritable Car Wash of bullets and it  wasn't that moment that I realized you know   my mortality and I might not be coming out of  this bullets started to Tink it was one two   a few tanks and we started to get our interest  started to perk up a little and then as we got   into town that whole I could remember the Gunner  closing the hatch and coming inside now we are   getting hit from bullets from Every Which Way  Small Arms fire you can hear the rounds hitting   the vehicles get your RPGs hitting the vehicles uh  one hit ours you know shaking back and forth from   um RPGs exploding off it or you're around it  and it was totally another world I mean the   RPGs nearby the flashes and the small windows  were all pressing our heads up as far as we   can on these on the Condors trying to look out  the windows to see what the hell is going on and   a little bulletproof glass and and getting you  know the apc's surging and taking off and then   almost stopping and running over curbs or whatever  because we're just getting tossed around in the   back we're getting bounced from one side to the  other side and the explosions and everything else   are going off outside the vehicle it was sometime  during this when when the lead two vehicles   um got hit by RPG and RPG and went off course  and missed the term that we were supposed to make   the route that they're supposed to go is blocked  and they're not going to be driving over and   through that the route directly in front  of them continuing to the West on National   street is blocked the southern route which turns  also goes back to the Newport facility is open   so they took path of least resistance and  turned South and gunned it to get out of the   Kill Zone get out of the Ambush that but they  were currently in and it was just miraculous   that Drew meyerwich was able to prevent the  rest of the column from following them I'm   sitting there holding the handle of a door and  here in the rounds hanging on the other side   knowing that sometime in the very near  future somebody's going to tell me get out   when it got hit I mean you knew immediately  something something's not right it was very loud   in the first place and then you could just hear  all the the engine and and all the electronics   shutting down and then the lead vehicle gets  hit and I had Sergeant Hollis called back to   me and he's you know because we stopped he says my  vehicle's been hit and I said to him well get out   establish security around the vehicle  and that's when our vehicle got hit   we got you know just came to abrupt stop you  know we got hit by an RPG that hit right below   where the driver sits and he uh he ended up  flying back and landed on a couple of soldiers and I I looked over it looked at  Hollis and Lieutenant Hall said get out damn it's here I just wanted out of this big  white vehicle and I opened the door and I kept   thinking all right everybody is behind me this  is gonna be fine this is gonna be okay because   I've got two rifle companies Delta element  with this and all this other kind of stuff   I was like cool we got all kinds of folks  we're just going to get into another fight   and I opened the door and I paused for a moment at  the door and I looked back the direction of travel   and uh and that's when the the realization hit  me and I was like there's no one there half of   one of my platoons is off course and not with us  and Colonel David sort of took control of that   situation and said hey you got to continue the  mission the Malaysians were unwilling to basically   drive through the obstacles so Alpha Company  had the dismount and we knew we're gonna have   to Dismount at some point but Alpha Company had  to Dismount a little bit earlier than we thought so when we got to the Olympic Hotel area that  that street was blocked by a couple of bodies   of vehicles um and a whole bunch of burning tires  um the simple thing would have been for the tank   to run right through it but the Pakistani tanks  weren't going to do that American Tank would have   and M1 would have done that without a without  a without a even a thought in his mind but they   refused to go and it was at that point in time  remember I had two tanks in front of my vehicle   and then there's my Dismount me and my Humvee  the tanks as we hit that intersection literally   backed up and and left my me and this Humvee sort  of sitting right smacking that intersection and   looking at this obstacle and I knew at that point  in time the only way we were going to get through   that was to physically move it and go ourselves I  knew we were not we were only a couple of blocks   from Task Force Ranger so it wasn't like we were  going to have to go miles down the road we were we   were close um and that was the point in time where  I started going into each of the vehicles one by   one and sort of saying it's dismountain moving  people forward cat marriage he knocked on our   door a couple times yelled get out there was a few  more words than that I opened the door got one leg   out and get back in so I sucked my leg back in as  fast as could and shut the door and uh we rolled   a few more feet and I hear get out again and then  when we got out uh it was on it's like a cartoon   it's like a Bugs Bunny or you can't explain it it  like the bullets outlines your body and the the   concrete that's being chipped off them from them  bullets hitting stinks and you just get up against   the wall and it's it's weird at first you step out  and there's burning vehicles and Rubble everywhere   um you can hear the little birds above us zipping  around you know I'm doing our doing our runs and when the Convoy came to a halt when  an elf company went to the first crash   site and Charlie Company began to move to the  second crash site I saw Lee Van Arsdale yeah   you know you know Dismount the vehicle and then  begin to move down the middle of the street and   um you know it's truly as if he was walking uh  in the park not as if he was walking amongst   uh rounds you know tracers flying everywhere and  it was it was a little surreal you know kind of   like you're watching and I think some have said  a Mad Max movie where all this stuff is going on   all around him and he's simply moving as if  nothing is happening because he's a man with   a he's a man with a purpose understanding that  you know he's got a he's got to help uh you know   develop a situation or sort it out and while he's  doing that um I think unaware to him but it's a   example of personal leadership it's the what we've  always taught about leading from the front right   it's leaders leaders do they don't just talk uh  it's you know guys who walk the walk might just   talk the talk well here was a guy who was clearly  an experienced combat veteran who was you know   leading from the front and I could say personally  it was expiring to me but I would also say that   that it was inspiring to others who had the  ability to see that level of calmness uh amid all   of that chaos and when you looked in the street  there was debris everywhere there were pieces of   wall tires species of vehicles just blocking the  road and uh the company Commander says uh we are   going to have to move that stuff because these  vehicles are not going to make it as sergeant   Roberts who's now the platoon leader for second  platoon because Mark Hollis is somewhere else I   have to inform him number one that his platoon  leader in his lead Squad have been are ambushed   and off course so you're in charge and number two  your platoon is this is all you got left of your   platoon um I brought him over and we had placed  the machine gun to support the breaching of the   obstacle that he was going to conduct with his  guys and he was given that mission to secure   open the obstacle up and secure the foothold  of it so that Curtis Crum Sergeant Warner his   platoon sergeant and first platoon could assault  through it and get be the link up platoon for   Task Force Ranger students aren't God of his  vehicle by this time everybody is dismounting   um and we set up the machine guns as OverWatch  and then my squad and a bunch of other guys ran   out on the road and we started rolling all this  debris out and I mean I'm watching the sparks's   lips are striking the road between my legs I  was amazed I was totally amazed that nobody   got here we moved up the road and we would cover  Each corner cover each other as we move until we   got to I think it was the block before the Hotel  and we came on heavy fire that road towards the   Olympic Hotel I think second platoon was in the  lead uh I could see what was going I could see   the Olympic Hotel guys are firing out of every  window and they kept running from room to room   they were bouncing all over I mean we got  into quite a sustained firefight right there   my guy's in the alley and the gun team and uh  the third Squad pasted against the side of the   building we're trying to suppress the Olympic  Hotel because all the windows were winking at   us when we got out I was leading on my side of  the road and on the other side was PFC Martin   and uh it wasn't long after we got out that  Martin was killed they couldn't couldn't tell   who it was from where from where I was at but  as I as we moved up and got closer later I could   see the M60 laying there and I saw a real big  body laying there and I thought it was Cooper   because I knew it was second platoon and  and him and I were we were real close and   then that's when I was not scared over there not  one second until I saw the first person I knew   dead to potentially hear you know when your  buddies um get put down I remember grabbing Martin   and pulling him back behind the APC for cover  and another medic came up Sean Atkins came up and as I was bent over checking on Martin I remember  this guy cursing and yelling and I look up   and he's been shot right through the shoulder  muscle and I tossed advantage to the guy beside   him and I said do buddy Aid because all my  soldiers knew how to do basic first aid to   apply addressing me and Sean move Martin when  after major Mourinho had come up and told us to   stop working on him and we kind of ignored major  Moreno and major Moreno pushed us off Martin   and that's when it kind of realized that we'd lost  him it was a a shocker to me the eye opener to me   I silently said the Lord's Prayer but I  tell you the soldiers didn't lose focus   because of the ncos that were kicking  ass they wouldn't let them dwell on it   okay and because that our momentum was  still forward there was no hesitation   no hesitation so it it uh knowing  that the loss is heavy always is but with the ncos keeping the soldiers focused   that mission there became successful I've been  focusing too much on what was going on behind me   um I know they trying to get him pulled back to uh  behind one of his ABC's so they can uh work on um   I think my my vision was to try to alleviate  the threat that was in front of us and uh so   we can keep moving forward to the uh to  the Rangers so much happens over the next   minutes and I say minutes because it could have  been hours and and it would have felt the same   to me because it wasn't it was very quickly done  we did not spend a lot of time in that area but   um no we weren't there for I mean as we even  began to do the initial assault onto it uh it   was at that point in time that specialist point  the machine gun that I had placed with Sergeant   Roberts on to support the fire uh specialist  Boyington was the Gunner and private Martin   was the assistant Gunner um it was right  as we were initiating this this assault   um that buoyant and and Martin both got shot  Martin was killed almost instantly in that and   uh boy and so that was right by where we were I  mean it was exactly it wasn't like it was far away   um so now I have a machine gun team that's  down we're still trying to breach his second   machine gun team comes forward to support start  supporting things uh thing but it's a very fluid   thing so I've got casualties over here I've got  a reach going on here I'm preparing to assault   across the objective at the same exact time and of  course my company medic is over worried about the   casualties and I've got the platoon leader who's  trying to get his guys through the force I got   another platoon who's getting his guys all riled  up ready to go through an assault to get the Task   Force Ranger he's showing them where they're at  on a map remember they were inside of a vehicle   all night after for an hour or so and they don't  see anything all they see is that all they hear   is the bullets shooting off the pinging off the  sides of the vehicle they have no idea where they   are so just me showing him where he's at and  then him being able to show his guys okay guys   we are at the Olympic Hotel this is one of the  things we talked about here's where we are right   now this is where we suspect rain Task Force  Ranger is they're only two blocks away uh he's   trying to figure out the link up procedures  this is all going on in a matter of seconds   um it but again remember I've been telling  you about that constant source of okay we   got to get there we gotta hurry these guys  need us things had not gotten better for   Task Force Ranger in this period of time  it's not like things were calming down we were taking fire from every I mean I could  almost any window in every window there was   someone shooting out shooting at us and we after  that happened we said it took a while they pulled   up they pulled up some Humvees with some Mark 19s  and they started knocking down that Olympic Hotel they had a lot of people in there I mean they we  were at a they had us pin pinned in there pretty   good we were taking fire from every rooftop  window doorway Alleyway Street intersection   cat Meyer which came and told me that the lead  armored personnel carrier refused to move when   I later reading the after Action Report saw  that he had been ordered by his command not   to go forward for whatever reason but that  was unacceptable so I told Matt Ryerson go go   make that vehicle go forward and I'll keep the  easy job for myself and I went to the front of   the Infantry column and said let's go we knew  the razors were out there we didn't know where   so you're you're clearing buildings and  clearing areas and houses very carefully   very fortunate we didn't we didn't have  any friendly kills and some houses were   you know passive and some houses  weren't the little birds were   Lifesavers uh that's the only thing that was going  to Keep Us Alive that night first platoon I think   it was move through our guys and they picked  up the lead and we ended up as the tail platoon   um and they stayed up front we stayed we remained  Trail until we actually linked up with the Rangers   we had to go a little bit north of the Olympic  Hotel took a right turn to the East and then back   north three or four more blocks and then the  crash site was in an alley off of that street   I stopped us about a block and a half short of  where the task force range element was I was in   radio contact with Scotty Miller The Ground  Force Commander I stopped as short because   my Prime consideration at this point in time is  no fratricide so Scotty and I were coordinating   I went forward with my radio operator kept that  kept the company and the apc's back one forward   and physically linked up with Scotty Miller  found out where he had his people then went   back to where the company was came back to link up  with Captain Meyer which Captain Steele was there   and they were arguing about who was in charge  I was in kind of an awkward position because   I'm not in the 10th mountain chain of command  in fact I was in nobody's chain of command I   was the officer in charge of the joint operations  center but American soldiers I don't care who they   are they respond well to positive leadership  and I said all right guys I'm in charge and   they both said yes sir when we finally got to the  objective area um it was enough there was enough   uh flexibility for all of our vehicles to start  pulling in the problem was all of them could not   fit in this this small Street I mean you bring  them you bring a vehicle you can bring two or   three vehicles in and then you're packed and now  you're in a traffic jam in the middle of this it   was just that small of a Terrain so you have to  bring them in and load up some casualties and   then move it to another location so it could be  secured and that was out of the way so we could   get more more vehicles in and while all this  is going on everybody's under Fire one of my   mark 19s is disabled it gets hit by an RPG Alpha  Company was having a very very tough time getting   um extracting pilot and co-pilot on the Blackhawk  helicopter given the attitude that it landed at   which was upside down and the armor and the fact  they were in contact and it's very difficult   situation if anything could go wrong it was  going wrong at that particular Moment In Time   the saw was not able to cut through the frame  of the console that was sort of the piece that   we needed to move and Ingenuity became the  buzzword we started taking tow cables and we   started ramming it with vehicles just trying  to to sort of flip it up on its side so that   we could get the Chiefs Chief workouts and his  body and get him home we're sitting there and   um we're just getting pounded I mean ordinance is  falling out of the sky uh RPGs I mean we had some   of the Malaysian apcs inside of our perimeter  and those were RPG magnets they would get hit   and shrapnel would go flying everywhere and I  think we got a couple of people wounded there   I didn't know this this was possible but I saw a  light coming at us and this thing bounced off the   road hit the wall and landed right next to us it  was an RPG round just hit the wall it bounced off   the road hit the wall broadside and fell over and  didn't go out didn't go off crazy we never looked   at a watch or looked at the Moon to see what  time of the night it was or anything like that   but all you know it it took a long time and you  say boy when is this going to end I remember   thinking I remember thinking that to myself  when is this you know how much longer this ends   in my own mind I questioned why it was taking  so long why why were we there so long because   we had mortar rounds that literally walked down  the street one hit in front of the vehicle one   hit behind the vehicle and in my mind I thought  you know lots of folks are going to continue to   die if if we don't get out of here right now  and in my own mind I thought or I felt like   there were many others out there not just me who  had the same feeling both you know on the ground   and back in the jock and um and then when Colonel  David I mean he got on uh the Battalion command   that and he said look we're going to stay here  as long as it takes to get everybody out of here   and for me you know that was um it was a moment  where it was almost as if all the anxiety was   lifted I mean it was okay we're we're gonna be  here until you know until it gets done we had   two apcs that pulled down the road a little bit in  front of it and one that pulled beside it and the   rest of them started stacking up behind getting  defensive positions they were RPG to the two in   front or RPGs immediately from the three-story  building that were that was right into our front   and it just firefight started right then and there  where we stopped so our fire pushed it back until   we got everybody dismounted and then we started  pushing the perimeter out a bit and protecting   the vehicles because that was our way out in the  end it was about 250 meters it wasn't it wasn't   a long distance but in the middle of the night  in a ram Shackled 10 Labyrinth that was a long   way to go at every corner you didn't know what was  going to happen because there was no semblance of   order and it was kind of kind of horror movie-ish  helicopter itself was like swiss cheese had been   shot so many times and we got all the sensitive  items out of it and we hollered all the guys names   there followed blood trails and moving through  from Sandy to Shandy because it's an enormous   Shandy complex there we'd yell into the Shacks  or be on across the way their their names looking   hopefully that had answered that they'd be holed  up in an area still Poland security and Haydn or   something and we'd be able to discover them and  give them assistance probably a good 20 minutes   where we followed what we could and shouted  their names in every direction up every alleyway   nothing so it's pretty disconcerting  Hollow it's the only way I can describe it when we got out and I got to the wall   that first split second thought is  where the hell is everybody else at as soon as we piled out we just got  alongside that wall and just like you know   we're not getting out of here you know my wife was  pregnant with our first child and I didn't think   I was going to be coming home to see that either  one of them I didn't want to accept that we were   by ourselves I said I'm going to move back and  I'm going to link up with with the Battalion we're   gonna we're gonna find out where they are because  they can't be far and uh I took uh the engineers   machine gun team and my interpreter with us kind  of deal and I started working our way back up the   hill to see if I could you know where are they I  need to to get in touch with these folks uh you   know there's no way that we're just two vehicles  uh out here by ourselves that just wouldn't happen   um sure enough we were I heard Dragon six tell  Terminator six the second second platoon was   missing I presumed dead and that we  needed Charlie my continued mission   I'm like dead hell I ain't dead I yelled  across the street to Lieutenant Hollis I   was like Lieutenant Hollis Lieutenant  Hollis did you hear that he said what   I said we're missing and presumed dead sir  so I was yelling back to him you know hey   hey if you've got communication because I'm still  trying to use the commsec on the radio I'm working   the 126 doesn't have commsec I said if you got  Communications with them tell them we're not dead   and then I just grab the radio from Keller and I  pulled off the ko8 and the Vincents and everything   else and I just shoved that stuff back inside  the rucksack and I went completely in the clear   I said Terminator or excuse me a dragon 6  Terminator two six and I got Colonel David   which was a great relief for a young second  Lieutenant one you finally got communication   with someone but two Colonel David is like  the calmest person on the radio that I know   and I probably wasn't the calmest person on  the radio and I I just said hey uh dragon 6   Terminator two six uh we have a big [ __ ]  sandwich down here and we're taking a huge   bite now remember what he said he said you know  hey son you're alive keep doing what you're doing   we'll get you some help we did everything at the  crash site and and started to make our way back   during that time we did a three two one  countdown kind of thing and shot our clusters   I shot my parachute flare and I shot  mine up and it was way further than   any hundred meters so I mean I figured 700. if not  a kilometer south of us when we get back I had a   leaders meeting and told him what was going  on because they all thought we were getting   ready to go and that wasn't the case and it  was going to be a while until we got it done   because we weren't leaving them down there a  good half hour after we had gotten there yeah   we heard an RPG go off and then Cooper you know  started you know hollering screaming and Sandy he   got hit and again being the combat Lifesaver  you know I went with uh one or two security   across the street and looked at him and he had  luckily had the flat vest on because you know   the shrapnel was in the in the middle of his back  in the flag vest and he said a you know got burned   pretty pretty good with uh from the uh shrapnel  but actually that's what the flat vesser for   the Stop shrapnel and that kind of stuff so he was  very fortunate to have that on this guy with an AK takes it and he just he just goes out at the door  the alley or whatever it was a doorway and he just   sprays like this and Lee Maxwell in Houston were  hit right in front of me and I've got a door stoop   that's or a piece of piece of concrete in front of  me and I'm like now the lead guy and I'm pulling   uh Houston back and I knew Houston was  was wounded badly so just about everybody   in their unit was wounded by that time I told  him to hunker down and we would work this out   um one way or the other we were  getting light on ammo and uh my best friends in the world came through those  pilots from the aviation and if it hadn't been for   those guys we probably did today and that's when  I went to Major Aziz and asked if we could borrow   his Vehicles one way or the other either us drive  them or him drive them and we go down and get them   it didn't happen the first time he called  his Battalion commander and the answer was no   uh went back talked to my guys we started doing  the dismounted plan in case we couldn't get the   vehicles went back to him the second time  the answer was still no he started getting   mad I started getting mad because the Battalion  Commander just did not understand our situation   he wasn't leaving his guys down there  I wasn't leaving my guys down there   so um major disease made one of the bravest  choices that I thought I mean for a career   he decided to not follow his Battalion  Commander's orders got his Vehicles has   got his third platoon leader to head on down we  just piled in to these vehicles we were packed   in there pretty tight and then we moved to the  stadium we'd been fighting all night you know   I don't I'm not sure how many how much ammo I  had left how much water I had left so there was   just an eerie feeling of knowing that you know our  supplies were running out and it was Daylight and   our advantage was gone you know time to get  out of there so it was a little nerve-wracking   and it started to get light and we started  looking at each other going we need to get   out of here this is not good enough so  now we were to try to get out in daylight it was nervous making before I authorized  druder withdraw off of the northern crash   site we had we actually had confirmation from  the Task Force Ranger operations center that   everybody was accounted for um that's not an it's  that's not a scene that has gotten portrayed very   accurately is in Hollywood and other places once  we got the bodies extracted from the helicopter   I figured the best way to get back was to put  the qrf up front they were the freshest troops   they'd been there the least amount of time  it made sense for them to lead and it was a   good company Commander a good first sergeant  good chain of command they were Rock Solid   I put the Delta element in the middle they're the  most experienced if they need to react anywhere   that's the place for them to be and then put the  Rangers in the rear they've been out there for 17   18 hours they're exhausted they're dehydrated but  they're still Rangers so I felt very comfortable   with them having my back so now we had our  Convoy going back and that's where the term   Mogadishu mile came from it was about 800 meters  from where we dismounted the Rally Point to the   crash site 800 meters back 1600 meters Mogadishu  mile sounds a lot better than the Mogadishu 1600   meter this was not something that just happened  on their part because as we were as we moved from   block to block you'd find RPG rounds stacked at  the court so this was I mean they they had this   plan or maybe they planned it real fast when  the hill once the helicopter came in but uh   they were waiting for us and they were going  to come and they were prepared to fight [Music]   so we we headed out on foot the same the same  way we came in right back past that Olympic Hotel way more I fired way more on that in that morning  I only I think I only shot one mag on the way in   30 times and I shot four on the way out so the  fire that morning was way it was way more intense   for me than it was that night from from getting  targets to shoot at there was people everywhere   popping out of every alley out of every door  and it was it was just this fire I mean it   was a fire fight of RPGs and Small Arms fire  um one of my company rtos was wounded at that   point in time they went through the through  the apcs turned to the right then that's when   a grenade went off behind me and I got fragged  from that and got shot and took me down I know   there were a couple of operators that were out  there running with me and I know I ran for quite   some time I really wish I was in an APC still  at that point in time all the apcs were parked   quite a ways down there I can remember two lane  road each way with a big divider in the middle   and we ran we we got down there I think we  were first again we were We Came Upon them   and our whole Squad piled into one the running  was more about making sure you had police stop   everybody along the way I it wasn't like I was  going to run straight down the middle of the   road like I was running a marathon uh it was  nothing like that it was it was sort of like   trying to make sure we had all the pieces and  uh I could just remember everybody looking at   each other once that door shut and we just  like did that really just happen it was a that feeling of being back in there looking  at each other and guys seeing each other   and hugging and stuff like I just can't  believe what we what we just went through   and to see that you know we're back  and when we're we're still alive was   was crazy my executive officer was back there as  well he in fact I think Chuck ended up on top of   my vehicle as well I mean we just it was sort of  a zoo just trying to make sure we had everybody I   had good control of my company didn't mean I had  to control my individuals my platoon leaders had   good controls of their platoons but that's not  their whole platoon that's a platoon I trusted   my platoon leaders had all of their soldiers my  platoon leaders trusted my squad leaders to have   all eight of their men my squad leaders trusted  my team leaders to have all four of their men   so what happened why some people thought they  were left behind I'm sure is that as the foot   elements stretched out in the accordion effect  the vehicular element compressed forward in the   in the reverse accordion effect and once those  guys in the very back saw those vehicles around   the corner and didn't see them again they  were convinced they got left behind simply   didn't happen and 214 successfully extracted the  ranges along with the Delta operators and others people lost their lives but you really never knew how big it was until you got to  the stadium and seen the triage um seen the Rangers and everybody laid out with in  body bags shocked that you just can't imagine this is tough when we got  to the Pakistani compound   and I got out of the APC the way we were  parked when I got out I'm looking across   all the cops with the dead bodies and I remember  walking up and I saw wonkowski and I was like   where's everybody else and that's  when he told me they they all got shot people laying everywhere in the field and it don't ever want to go back you recite the words you say the words  and I think I don't know that you ever   believe that you're ever going to be in a  position where you have to live the words   and then you do and and it changes you  you know they're not just words anymore um it's just about words anymore I'm enormously proud of uh 10th Mountain but  also the Rangers and the Delta operators uh   and all the the U.S forces Marines the aviators  from 160th all of the U.S military forces that   served in Mogadishu served In Harm's Way at  that time I'm just enormously proud of their   personal courage their personal bravery and I  had many many friends in 214 Mike Ellerbe was   wounded in action Bill David was one of the most  extraordinary Battalion commanders I've ever met   and I will tell you that those Delta operators  that were on the scene at the time Scotty Miller   who's now the commander four-star commander  in Afghanistan he was wounded in Mogadishu as   a Delta operate at the time and many many others  I've known them off and on throughout the years   I've served with them these are extraordinary  soldiers and I'm enormously proud to have walked   along their side and proud of their courage and  their bravery I'll just say on a personal level   um I was extremely proud of the Battalion then  and I'm just as proud of them today as I was then   um maybe even a little bit prouder for the most  part these were fought by young men between the   ages of 18 and 22. now it's sometimes young  men and young women between the ages of 18   and 22. I mean that's that's the bull first  term in listings right out of high school   I credit the live fire exercises  for giving them a lot of that sense   um and the platoon leaders were were  just absolutely superb I mean leading   it from the front and displaying the  physical and moral courage that you know   essential in those positions ncos were great doing  exactly what they had to do I mean it was really   the ncos command sergeant major counts and the  company first sergeants and the platoon sergeants   you know looking at it in hindsight you know I  don't I don't ever have a second thought that   um there was something we should have done  that we didn't do or something we could   have done differently faster or whatever I I  don't have any of those second thoughts so um I think we did the regimental  colors proud that night [Music]   thank you [Music]

Channel: Valorous TV

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Length: 68min 45sec (4125 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 07 2023