Posted on 07/01/2021 4:08:47 PM PDT by PROCON
On Thursday, the U.S. Army announced it had approved upgrades to the medals 60 special operations troops received from 1993’s Operation Gothic Serpent in Somalia, also known as the Battle of Mogadishu or “Black Hawk Down.”
In total, 58 special operations troops were upgraded to Silver Stars, the third-highest U.S. military decoration for valor in combat. Two more special operations troops were upgraded to Distinguished Flying Crosses, which recognizes acts of heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight.
The Oct. 3, 1993 battle in Mogadishu, Somalia was part of a U.S. Army mission to capture Somali warlord Mohammed Farrah Aidid. The attempt to capture Aidid and disrupt his militants was launched after Aidid had attacked United Nation’s peacekeeping forces supporting relief efforts during Somalia’s civil war.
During the Battle of Mogadishu, two U.S. UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters were shot down, and the mission that originally intended to capture Aidid transformed into a mission to recover the crews of the two helicopters and evacuate from the city. 18 members of the U.S. task force were killed and 106 more were wounded.
“On the afternoon of Oct. 3, armed militants shot down two MH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, after which U.S. ground forces converged on the two downed aircraft to recover the personnel,” the Army said Thursday, “The ensuing intense firefight resulted in the loss of 18 American Soldiers and remains an especially significant point in the history of the U.S. Army and U.S. Army Special Operations Command specifically.”
The Somali combatants’ death tolls from the battle are estimated in the hundreds.
The Army announced the upgraded awards will be presented later this year in separate commemoration ceremonies hosted by each of the units in which the particular soldier served at the time of the mission nearly 28 years ago.
The Army did not name which U.S. soldiers who participated in the battle would see their medals upgraded.
Following the downing of the two Black Hawk helicopters, Delta Force Soldiers Master Sgt. Gary Gordon and Sgt. 1st Class Randy Shughart elected to respond alone to one of the crash sites, despite growing mobs threatening the rescue effort.
Gordon and Shughart arrived at the crash site and fended off numerous attackers before being overwhelmed and killed as they attempted to save one of the pilots, Michael Durant.
In a 2008 interview with Defense Media Network, Durant said Gordon and Shughart were “textbook special ops guys” who showed no signs of panic as they held off attacks for about 15 minutes.
After Gordon and Shughart were killed, Durant was captured by Aidid’s loyalist fighters and held prisoner for 11 days, before eventually being released.
Gordon and Shughart were later awarded the Medal of Honor for their efforts to rescue Durant and defend the downed helicopter.
The events of the Battle of Mogadishu were retold in the 1999 book “Black Hawk Down” and the 2001 movie of the same name.
Also a retelling of the operation.
18 American troops vs hundreds of thugs. This shows the value of training.
With the way the military is being culled of real warriors by the insane libtard animal they put in charge of the military, I have my doubts this could turn out today as good as it did then. You'd have transgenders whimpering about "it hurts" or "I broke a nail", you'd have libtards having issues with ordered given, etc. A disgrace. G-d bless these Black Hawk warriors!
I read the book before seeing the film, and the film followed the book closely.
I do not believe there was any “Hollywood” embellishing in the movie of the events of that day.
These thugs may be crossing our Southern border as we type. Biden may be flying them at our expense to welcome our new "dreamers".
Blackhawk Down update ping. Thanks to Procon for posting.
There’s a Skinny in Congress, and Minneapolis has thousands of Skinnies as well.
And the value of armor and the value of not skimping on supporting arms. There is utterly no excuse there was no AC-130 in the zone.
Most of these brave soldiers died in no small part because Bill Clinton’s appointed Secretary of Defense (and former Wisconsin congressman) Les Aspin refused to send tanks into Somalia because of the “optics”. This was a Democrat produced disaster.
I hadn't heard about him refusing the tanks before; I thought the reason he had to resign was because he refused to let them deploy the AC-130s.
Ilhan Omar must be outraged about this.
Some time back, I received a link and password to preview a Fox Nation special called The Battle of Mogadishu A Battalion of Brothers.
I was surprised to see my sisters husband was one of the Army Ranger interviewed during the program.
Concur
Interesting that RACISM wasn't accused in the article, now charges of racism permeates our news every hour of the day.
Sadly, armored vehicles and tanks were denied, of that there is no doubt.
Ping.
It’s infuriating that TWO Clintons are infamous for withholding air support in two separate sieges of American personnel.
wonder if it will trigger any of the incoming batch of "nonviolent" recruits as to what they will actually be expected to do?
Nearly 20 years later, the Pentagon is going to parade the upgrade because of the opinionated idiot, Genital Milley? Who knows — maybe it was in the works for years... or decades.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m in complete favor of the upgrade. But I’m also in favor of an upgrade for the persecuted Haditha Marines. Remember those disregarded by that other political jackass, Mattis?
Good news, but... Why and why now? The article doesn’t say.
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