The FReeper Foxhole Remembers Task Force Ranger: Mogadishu, Somalia - (10/3/1993) - Oct. 3rd, 2003

ArmyRanger.com ^ | LTC JD Lock

[SAMWolf]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.

...................................................................................... ...........................................

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Task Force Ranger:
Mogadishu, Somalia

In 1993, the Rangers were once again called into harm's way in support of the United Nation's efforts to establish order in the African nation of Somalia. On 6 June, the U.N. Security Council...with U.S. sponsorship and approval...passed Resolution 837, calling for the apprehension "for prosecution, trial, and punishment" of those responsible for the ambush and death of twenty-four Pakistani U.N. peacekeepers and to use "all necessary measures" to install United Nations authority "throughout Somalia." It was determined that 'War Lord' Mohamed Farrah Aidid and his SNA were responsible for the ambush and a plan was developed to bring about his capture.

On June 17, an arrest order was issued by the United Nations and, as a result, Aidid went into hiding deep within Mogadishu. Efforts by U.N. units in country failed to capture him. U.N ambassador to Somalia, U.S. Admiral (Retired) Jonathan Howe, eventually requested 1st Special Operational Detachment-Delta...the premier three-squadron U.S. counter terrorism unit known as Delta Force to the public...to assist in Aidid's capture. President Clinton eventually approved the request to send in the specialized unit.

The U.S. deployed Task Force Ranger, a 450-man force composed of approximately sixty men from the one-hundred-and-fifty-man Squadron C of 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta; B Company (Reinforced), 3rd Ranger Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment from; and support helicopters from the Army's 1st Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR)...the world's finest night fliers known as the "Night Stalkers."


Mohamed Farrah Aidid

Task Force Rangers' advance party arrived in Somalia on 26 August. The task force set up base on the shore of the Indian Ocean at the Mogadishu Airport on the far southern end of the city. The operation was to be conducted in three phases: Phase I, lasting until 30 August, was to get set up; Phase II, lasting until 7 September, would focus exclusively on locating and capturing Aidid; and Phase III...in the event Phase II failed, the focus would shift to Aidid's command structure with the intent of forcing the warlord to take a more active and open role with his forces.

In spite of a number of handicaps, Task Force Ranger attempted to seize and to maintain the initiative by planning and launching a number of raids that proved to be unsuccessful. On 7 September, the force moved to Phase III and expanded its target list to include six of Aidid's top lieutenants and staff. Despite some Ranger success, Aidid continued his defiance even as the task force attempted to track him down with additional ambushes and killings of U.N. forces.




The seventh and final mission of Task Force Ranger commenced at approximately 1300 on 3 October when a Somali agent passed word that a number of Aidid's lieutenants, including two of the six on the expanded target list...Muhammed Hassan Awale and Omar Salad Elmi...would be meeting later that afternoon.

The mark was in the vicinity of the Olympic Hotel...a white, five-story building that served as a landmark since it was one of the few large buildings left intact in the city. HawlwadigRoad, intersected by narrow dirt alleys, ran in front of the hotel and was one of the few paved roads in the city. Across Hawlwadig, one block north, was...what would turn out to be...the ultimate target house, a two-sectioned building with two stories in the front, three stories in the rear, and a flat roof on both. L-shaped, the structure had a small courtyard enclosed by a high stonewall.




Just three blocks to the west of the hotel was the Bakara Market...the most heavily armed region of Mogadishu. This area was known by soldiers as "the Black Sea" and was referred to as real "Indian country." The assault force was formidable and consisted of seventy-five Rangers and forty Delta soldiers onboard an air armada of sixteen helicopters. The Delta and Ranger assault force would be inserted by four MH-6 and six MH-60 Black Hawks with four AH-6J Little Birds providing close air support.

In that the target area was too confining and too dangerous to land helicopters to extract the prisoners..."precious packages"...and assault force, a fifty-two-man Ranger ground element...including some Delta operatives and Navy SEALs from SEAL Team Six...was to deploy from the airport in a twelve-vehicle convoy on a three-mile journey in direct support of the operation.


Michael Durant's helicopter heading out over Mogadishu on Oct. 3, 1993. Mike Goodale rode on this one.

The helicopters lifted off at 1532 after a thirty-seven minute delay. Taking a circuitous flight from their staging base just three miles away from the objective and moving low and fast over the ocean's breakers, the aircraft made a dash over the city, with the MH-6s carrying four Deltas, two to a side, on their external benches. Rapidly landing on Hawlwadig Road in a billowing swirl of rust-orange dust that created some significant visibility problems, a group of six helicopters, composed of four MH-6 Little Birds and two Black Hawks, inserted forty Delta soldiers on the road in front of the building. Simultaneously, sixty Rangers were inserted into the objective by 'fast-rope' to establish a security perimeter between the four corners of the target's city block.

The mission's "precious cargo," twenty-four prisoners, including the two primary men they had sought, had been quickly captured and the Ranger twelve-vehicle ground convoy was called at the twenty-minute mark to make its way to their location from their hold position approximately 200 meters from the objective. As the ground convoy picked up the prisoners in front of the building, enemy fire began to gain in intensity. A convoy of three vehicles was dispatched with an injured Ranger to make its way back to the airfield. The three vehicles came under such heavy fire that they barely made it.




The situation grew progressively worse at the objective around 1610 when the first Rocket Propelled Grenades...RPGs...were fired at circling helicopters. Finally, at 1620, the strategy paid off with a hit on the tail rotor of the lead assault Black Hawk, "Super 61" that brought it crashing down on the roof of a house located within a walled compound. The Black Hawk fell to earth on its left side, its top wedged against the remains of a wall in a narrow alley, its nose to the ground. Within, the pilot lay dead, the five others aboard lay injured.

Having rehearsed the possibility of an aircraft going down, the task force quickly implemented three contingency plans: provide cover with a nearby CSAR Black Hawk, Super 68, deploy the main body of Task Force Ranger from the objective to the crash site, and alert the Quick Reaction Force from the 10th Mountain Division to deploy from its location at the Somali National University to the Mogadishu Airport, from where it could launch to support CSAR missions.



On the ground at the objective, the Rangers on the perimeter began to move to the location of the downed Black Hawk with the Delta operatives doing the same soon after the transfer of the prisoners to the ground convoy. At the crash site, survivors were attempting to establish a defense while a Little Bird courageously set down in a nearby alley called Freedom Road to extract two survivors.

The first group of Rangers arrived at the crash site after completing a terrifying run of over three blocks with bullets boring down the alleys from every direction. Eight minutes after Super 61 going down, the CSAR Black Hawk, carrying fifteen members of a highly trained combat search-and-rescue unit was hovering over and fast-roping down to Freedom Road. Hit by an RPG and trailing a thin gray haze of smoke, the mortally wounded CSAR bird barely made its way back to the airfield three miles away where it crash landed.


The pilots and crew of Super 64.

As the remainder of the Rangers and Delta made their way to the Super 61 crash site, it was discovered that the remains of the pilot were trapped in his seat. The real problem became how to get the body out, for there appeared no easy way to reclaim it. Abandoning their aviation comrade was not an option for the Rangers or Delta as arriving groups expanded and fortified a security perimeter around the downed helicopter.

It did not take long for the situation to dramatically worsen when an RPG claimed that second victim less than twenty minutes after the first. Overhead, Super 64 had been directed to take Super 61's orbital spot over the target area when it, too, took an RPG round to the tail. Within minutes, the rotor failed and the aircraft plummeted impacting on top of a frail shack.

[E.G.C.]

Good morning, Snippy and everyone at the Freeper Foxhole.

Our computer froze on us yesterday. It happened after I clicked "Disconnect" on the status box after I clicked on status in the deal on the system tray. The Second time it has happened in two weeks. It's working O.K. for now.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning EGC.

Hope your computer problems are not serious.

[Do the Dew]

You have FReep mail.

[mark502inf]

The after action report on Somalia was classified--however, about a month ago the decision was made to release it after editing out a few details. That process is under way now & we should see it soon.

Bowden in his book seemed to get the 3 October details pretty good, but we should look for information on some bigger picture issues:

-The decision to leave a QRF in Somalia when the U.S. coalition turned over ops to the UN in the spring; to include its purpose, ROE, and chain of command; i.e. what was the process at the interagency level & in the Pentagon

-The effect of the stop and start nature of military ops versus the Aideed clan during the summer; i.e. did the breaks between QRF & coalition attacks on Aideed strongholds in June & July provide time for negotiations as intended or did they provide time for Aideed to re-group, re-equip, and re-train?

-The whole process of adjusting the force on the ground for the changed mission and cirumstances starting in June; i.e. why weren't special ops, armor & arty augmentation added when requested.

-How to better achieve unity of command with special ops, conventional U.S. forces, and coalition forces all operating together in close tactical proximity.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning.

The after action report on Somalia was classified--however, about a month ago the decision was made to release it after editing out a few details. That process is under way now & we should see it soon.

This is good news. Thanks for updating the Foxhole. Please let us know if you hear more about this and we miss it.

[snippy_about_it]

Thank you and Good morning.

[manna]

Present!

[The Mayor]

[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on October 03:
1605 Li Tzu-ch'eng Chinese revolutionary, dethroned last Ming emperor
1728 Christian d'Oriola France, foils (Olympic-gold-1952, 56)
1800 George Bancroft historian (Hall of Fame)
1803 John Gorrie inventor (cold-air process of refrigeration)
1804 Townsend Harris 1st Western consul to reside in Japan
1814 Mikhail (Yurevich) Lermontov Russia, romantic poet/novelist (Demon)
1844 Sir Patrick Manson "Father of tropical medicine"
1854 William Crawford Gorgas US, Surgeon-Gen, help cure yellow fever
1859 Elenora Duse Italy, actress (Hedda Gabler)
1886 Henri Alain-Fournier French novelist (Le Grand Meaulnes)
1888 Carl von Ossietzky Germany, journalist, pacifist (Nobel 1935)
1899 Gertrude Berg Harlem NYC, actress (Molly Goldberg-The Goldbergs)
1900 Jay Irving NYC, cartoonist (Draw Me a Laugh)
1900 Thomas Wolfe American novelist (Look Homeward Angel)
1904 Charles Pedersen UK, biochemist (Nobel 1987)
1911 Michael Hordern England, actor (Friar Domingo-Shogun)
1923 Stanislaw Skrowaczewski Lwow Poland, conductor (Die Zauberfl”te)
1925 Gore Vidal writer/playwright (Myra Breckinridge, Lincoln)
1928 Erik Bruhn Copenhagen Denmark, dancer (Natl Ballet of Canada)
1934 Madlyn Rhue Wash DC, actress (Bracken's World, Executive Suite)
1935 Abdon Pamich Italy, 50K walker (Olympic-gold-1964)
1935 Charles M Duke Jr Charlotte NC, Brig Gen USAF/astronaut (Apol 16)
1936 Steve Reich NYC, composer (My Name is)
1937 Eli Jacobs baseball owner (Baltimore Orioles)
1938 Eddie Cochran Okla City, rocker (C'Mon Everybody)
1939 James Darren Phila, actor/singer (Gidget, Diamond Head)
1940 Jean Ratelle NHL center (NY Rangers, Boston Bruins)
1941 Chubby Checker singer (The Twist)
1945 Viktor Saneyev USSR, triple jumper (Olympic-3 gold/1 silv-1968-80)
1946 Bob Dotson St Louis Mo, newscaster (Primetime Sunday)
1947 Lindsey Buckingham rocker (Fleetwood Mac-Rumours, Tusk)
1950 Pamela Hensley Glendale Calif, actress (Buck Rogers in 25th Century)
1951 Dave Winfield baseball outfielder (NY Yankee)
1951 Kathryn D Sullivan Paterson NJ, PhD/astro (STS 41-G, 28, 31, 45)
1956 Hart Bochner actor (Supergirl, Die Hard)
1959 Jack Wagner rocker/actor (General Hospital, Santa Barbara)
1962 Tommy Lee Greece, rock drummer (Motley Cre), wed Heather Locklear
1963 Patrick Flatley Ontario, right winger (NY Islanders, Oly-4 gold-1988)
1969 Shane Butterworth actor (Timmy-Bad News Bears)

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Deaths which occurred on October 03:
1283 Dafydd ap Gruffyd, last monarch of Gwynnedd (North-Wales), dies
1564 Christophorus Fabritius, [Christoffel Smit], calvinist vicar, burned at the stake
1656 Myles Standish Plymouth Colony leader, dies (birth date unknown)
1959 William Bishop actor (Steve-It's a Great Life), dies at 42
1967 Woodrow Wilson "Woodie" Guthrie, US folk singer/guitarist, of Huntington's Chorea at 55
1965 Zachary Scott actor (Spotlight Playhouse), dies at 51
1979 Charles White artist, dies at 61 in Los Angeles
1979 Claudia Jennings playmate (Nov, 1969)/actress, dies at 29
1983 John K.M. McCaffery TV host (One Minute Please), dies at 69
1985 Charles Collingwood newscaster (Chronicles), dies at 68
1985 Maurice Copeland actor (Ralph-Those Young Charmings), dies at 74
1988 Franz Josef Strauss German FR min of defense (1956-62), dies at 73
1988 Generoso Pope Jr National Enquirer owner, dies at 61
1990 Stefano Casiraghi Princess Caroline of Monaco husband, dies at 30

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Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1966 ECHEVARRIA RAYMOND L. NEW YORK NY.
1966 JONES JAMES E. ALAPHA GA.
1966 WILLIAMS EDDIE L. MIAMI FL.
1967 BARNETT ROBERT W. LOS ANGELES CA.
[03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1967 KING RONALD RUNYAN SANTA CRUZ CA.
1968 SMITH ROGER L. SOUTH POINT OH.
[REMAINS RETURNED ID 07/99]
1969 CUNNINGHAM KENNETH ELLERY IL.
1969 GRAFFE PAUL L. SHELTON WA.

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

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On this day...
2333 -BC- Tangun establishes kingdom of Chosun (Korea) (legendary)
1264 Comet said to predict the death of Pope Urban IV is last seen
1430 Jews are expelled from Eger Bohemia
1569 Battle of Montcontour: Duke of Anjou beats Huguenots
1650 The English parliament declares its rule over the fledgling American colonies
1678 Taj Mahal was completed
1789 Washington proclaims the 1st national Thanksgiving Day on Nov 26
1862 Battle of Corinth, Miss
1863 Lincoln designates last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day
1904 Mary McLeod Bethune opens Daytona Normal & Industrial School
1913 Federal Income Tax signed into law (at 1%)
1918 Boris becomes king of Bulgaria
1920 NFL (then American Pro Football Association) plays 1st games
1929 The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes officially changes its name to Yugoslavia
1922 1st facsimile photo send over city telephone lines, Washington, DC
1928 French sub "Ondine" sinks returning to Toulon, drowning 42
1929 Kingdom of Serbs, Croats & Slovenes changes name to Yugoslavia
1931 The comic strip Dick Tracy first appears in the New York News
1940 U.S. Army adopts airborne, or parachute, soldiers.
1941 Adolf Hitler declared in a speech in Berlin that Russia had been "broken" and would "never rise again."
1941 All elderly Jewish men of Kerenchug Ukraine, are killed by SS
1942 Launch of the 1st A-4/V-2 rocket to altitude of 53 miles (85 km)
1945 World Federation of Trade Unions formed; CIO a member
1947 1st telescope lens 200" (508 cm) in diameter completed
1947 With only 1 out to go, Yankee Floyd Beven gives up a double breaking his world series no-hit bid, it scored 2 runs & he lost the game (World Series #44)
1948 NFL becomes 1st sport televised as sport of the week
1949 WERD, 1st black-owned radio station, opens in Atlanta
1950 1st black lead (Ethel Waters) on TV (Beulah)
1951 Bobby Thomson HR-The Giants win the pennant defeating Dodgers
1952 1st video recording on magnetic tape, LA, Ca
1954 "Father Knows Best" premieres
1955 "Captain Kangaroo" premieres, Good Morning, Captain!
1955 "Mickey Mouse Club" premieres
1955 Soviet battleship "Novorossiisk" strikes WW II mine in Baltic Sea
1960 SF's White House dept store 1st to accept BankAmericard
1960 "The Andy Griffith Show" premiered on CBS-TV
1960 Yanks win 8-7, ending season on a 15 game win streak
1961 "Dick Van Dyke Show" premieres on CBS-TV
1961 "Mr Ed" premieres
1962 Wally Schirra in Sigma 7 launched into Earth orbit
1965 Whitey Ford notches #232 to become Yankees winningest pitcher
1967 William Knight sets X-15 speed rec of 7,297 KPH/4,534 MPH/Mach 6.72
1968 Military coup overthrows Pres Fernando Bela£nde Terry in Peru
1970 Baseball umpires call their 1st strike
1971 Billie Jean King became 1st female athlete to win $100,000
1972 Spaceflight 71-2 launched; 1st flexible substrate photovoltaic flown
1972 Steve Carlton wins 27th game for Phillies (almost « of their 59 wins)
1974 Bundy victim (?) Nancy Wilcox disappears in Salt Lake City, Utah
1974 Frank Robinson becomes baseball's 1st black manager (Cleve Indians)
1974 Watergate trial begins
1975 George Harrison releases "Extra Texture" album in UK
1978 Gold hits record $223.50 an ounce in London
1981 Irish Nationalist at Maze Prison near Belfast end 7-mo hunger strike
1982 Cox 4 rowing record set at 12:52 for 99 miles (Geneva, Switzerland)
1982 Record 11,763 start a 186 mile cross-country race near Stockholm
1982 Scott Weiland runs Detroit marathon backwards in less than 5 hours
1983 Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson release "Say, Say, Say" in UK
1985 21st Shuttle Mission (51J)-Atlantis 1-all-military flight launched
1986 Soviet Yankee-class sub sinks off NC, 3 die
1987 Michael Pruffer of France skis 135.26 MPH at Portillo, Chile
1988 26th Space Shuttle Mission, Discovery 7 returns to Earth after 4-days
1988 Lebanese kidnappers release Mithileshwar Singh (held for 30 months)
1988 WBMW-FM, Wash DC changes calls to WJFK & begins airing Howard Stern
1989 Panamanian Defense Force attempted coup of Manuel Noriega fails
1990 East Germany & West Germany merge to become Germany
1990 George Brett becomes 1st to lead league in batting in 3 decades
1990 Tiger Cecil Fielder becomes 11th, to hit 50 HRs (& 51st)
1990 Florida record store owner Charles Freeman is found guilty of obscenity, for selling 2 Live Crew rap records
1991 Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton entered the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
1994 Gary Larson, announces he is retiring from doing "Far Side" cartoon
1997 In response to Republican calls to appoint an independent counsel to investigate the fund-raising practices of President Clinton and Vice President Gore, Atty. Gen. Janet Reno said there was "no evidence whatsoever" that the president solicited campaign contributions in exchange for favorable treatment.

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Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Bangladesh : Jamat Ul-Wida
Barbados : United Nations Day/Clerks' Holiday
Germany : Reunion Day "Tag der Deutsche Einheit" (1990)
Honduras : Moraz n Day/Soldier's Day
Iraq : Independence Day (1932)
Netherlands : Relief of Leyden Day (1573-74)
South Korea : National Foundation Day (2333 BC)
Massachusetts : Grandparents Day (Sunday)
Missouri : Missouri Day (Monday)
World : Child Health Day, Universal Children's Day (1928) (Monday)
Moroccan New Year.
National Clock Month

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Religious Observances
Unification Church : Foundation day for nation of the unified world
Old Catholic : Feast of St Therese of the Child Jesus-Little Flower
Feast of St. Candidus, martyr.
Feast of St. Francis Borgia, Confessor.

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Religious History
1692 In Massachusetts, Increase Mather published his "Cases of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits," which effectively brought an end to the Salem Witch Trials which had begun earlier this year.
1778 Anglican clergyman and hymnwriter John Newton wrote in a letter: 'A real conviction of our weakness we cannot learn merely from books or preachers. The providence of God concurs ... in making us acquainted with ourselves.'
1832 Birth of Carolina (aka Lina Sandell) Berg, hymnwriter. Known as the "Fanny Crosby of Sweden," her most enduring songs which survive today are: "Day by Day (And With Each Passing Moment)" and "Children of the Heavenly Father."
1875 Hebrew Union College was founded in Cincinnati, Ohio under Jewish auspices. It was the first Jewish college in America to train men for the rabbinate.
1929 The Church of Scotland merged with the United Free Church of Scotland, retaining the name Church of Scotland. Though it maintains an official state connection, its ecclesiastical government is presbyterian (elder-led) in nature.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

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Thought for the day :
"Madness takes its toll. Please have exact change."

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You Might Be A Redneck Jedi If...
At least one wing of your X-Wing is primer colored.

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Murphys Law of the day...(McGurk's Law)
Any improbable event which would create maximum confusion if it did occur, will occur.

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It's a little known fact that...
There are about 30 milligrams of caffeine in the average chocolate bar, while a cup of coffee contains around 100 to 150 milligrams.

[gatorbait]

Another source to read ...www.bhd93.com

[gatorbait]

Another source to read ...www.bhd93.com

[gatorbait]

Sorry about the double post, y'all

[snippy_about_it]

:)

[snippy_about_it]

Morning Mayor! Thanks for the coffee.

[snippy_about_it]

There are about 30 milligrams of caffeine in the average chocolate bar, while a cup of coffee contains around 100 to 150 milligrams.

Coffee, mmmm.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning gatorbait and thank you for the Black Hawk Down 93 Website

It was worth a double post. :)

We appreciate you "falling in" to the Foxhole to share it with us.

[rangerwife]

Thank you for posting this!

[skeeter]

Thank SAM. When I find myself getting irritated with the current administration its good to recall what can happen when a truly incompetent man sits in the Oval Office.

[w_over_w]

Morning Glory Snip & Sam~

The events of Magodishu will always earmark what kind of CIC William Jefferson Clinton was to the armed forces. May the families of those brave soldiers know how grateful we are for there sacrifice and valor.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning w/w.

Amen to what you said!