Posted on 09/25/2018 9:52:43 AM PDT by fugazi
In the early morning hours of Sept. 25, 1993 – eight days before the famous Battle of Mogadishu that will claim the lives of 19 Americans – an enemy rocket-propelled grenade slams into an COURAGE 53, an Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter conducting a night reconnaissance "Eyes Over Mogadishu" mission.
The grenade blast ignites the aircraft’s fuel, killing three soldiers on board. Chief Warrant Officer (CWO) Dale Shrader and copilot CWO Perry Alliman fight to keep the helicopter in the air long enough to reach friendly lines at the port, but the helicopter crashes into a building and slams into the street. Alive, but critically injured, Shrader and Alliman are down and behind enemy lines.
In 1993 Pvt. Jason Wind was a 19-year-old combat engineer attached to "Tiger" Company, 2d Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment of the 10th Mountain Division, part of the quick reaction force (QRF) sent to secure the crash site and evacuate the casualties. On the 25th anniversary of the battle to secure the COURAGE 53 crash site, Wind shares his account with us.
OPSLENS: What what was the situation on the night of the crash?
WIND: As part of the QRF, we were used to getting all sorts of alerts to mobilize. Most of the time we would wind up standing down without leaving the university compound or just go to the airfield and wait for nothing.
This time we got a hot "QRF get it on now" wake up call in the middle of the night. As usual, we quickly got our gear on, picked up heavy weaponry and made our way to the TOC [tactical operations center] so the COC [chain of command] can be briefed. Word got around that a bird got hit and our orders were to secure the site and look
(Excerpt) Read more at opslens.com ...
Thank you for your service, sir.
you’re welcome.
good write-up of a very forgotten incident that if the lesson would have been learned from it, there would be no blackhawk down.......
to all readers of this, I HIGHLY recommend the book written by my company commander about our 5 month deployment in late 93.
https://www.amazon.com/Madness-Mogadishu-Commanding-Mountain-Divisions-ebook/dp/B00XCTZNJ4
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