Day of the Rangers: The Battle of Mogadishu 25 Years On

by Leigh Neville

  I briefly got to shake some hands at the Task Force on the way out as we were loaded. At the Landstuhl hospital, I underwent another surgery – actually the first one was never closed – to examine the extent of damage and more cleaning/debridement. Within a day or two I was transported to Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington DC, where I stayed on the ward for several days until I was finally released.

  Others were inevitably second-guessing themselves amid their grief. Super 65 pilot Gerry Izzo admitted that he struggled for years with questions over whether he should have flown into the Super 64 crash site or followed orders:

  I did what I was told and stayed in holding. It’s not just my life, I’ve got my crew and I’m responsible for them. And of course you think you’re the only one with doubt, with survivor guilt but you find out that everyone from General Garrison down to a private Ranger was going through the “coulda, shoulda, woulda” thing. You can’t help it. It’s natural.

  Task Force Ranger casualties for the October 3 mission were 16 killed; five from Delta, five from the 160th SOAR, and six from the Rangers; and an incredible 83 wounded. A later analysis showed that 55 percent of the Task Force Ranger casualties were from bullets or direct hits by RPGs, 31 percent were fragmentation injuries primarily from RPGs and hand grenades, 12 percent were blunt force trauma including the casualties sustained by the aircrews, and 2 percent were burns. The International Committee of the Red Cross estimated the number of Somali dead at somewhere between 200 and 300 with approximately 700 wounded. Radio Mogadishu reported slightly higher figures; 364 killed and 754 wounded. Other Somalis claim as many as 500 were killed and twice that number wounded. We will never know for sure.

  The 10th Mountain suffered 22 wounded and two killed in action during the eight-hour operation to extract Task Force Ranger. Matt Eversmann noted that “When I think about (2-14th Infantry’s) virtually ‘no notice’ mission to head out to support us, I am thankful that those warriors were there to answer the call.”6 Their role was covered briefly in the Bowden book but almost completely excised from the film, leading to understandable discontent amongst 10th Mountain veterans.

  Without the 10th Mountain intervention, the number of additional casualties incurred by Task Force Ranger would have been much higher. Some personnel would have undoubtedly made it out of the city on foot with the AH-6s flying above, but exactly how many is open to question. 10th Mountain played a significant and sometimes underreported role in the events of October 4, as did the Malaysians and Pakistanis. The Malays suffered two men killed and seven wounded whilst the Pakistanis had two of their own tank crewmen wounded. A later report noted, “By operation’s end, ‘Task Force David’ had successfully achieved what many believed to be impossible. The fact that so few casualties were sustained by this ad hoc organization, in the execution of a near insurmountable task, was nothing short of miraculous.”7

  0916 HOURS: GROUND COMMANDERS REPORT ALL PERSONNEL ACCOUNTED FOR EXCEPT FOR THE 4 CREWMEMBERS AND 2 SNIPERS INSERTED INTO CRASH SITE #2.

  On the morning of October 4, many of the members of Task Force Ranger were just learning of the missing aircrew and Delta snipers at the Super 64 crash site. “We didn’t know the true fate of any of them. I didn’t really know what was going on at Crash Site 2 for a long time,” explained Karl Maier. “We knew the crowd overran them because the C2 bird could see that. When I heard they had Mike Durant, I was like, ‘Okay, what about the rest of them? Where’s everybody else?’ We were kinda in the dark.”

  Delta’s Operational Support Troop prepared a small team to venture out into downtown Mogadishu in the hope of recovering those missing in action. The Operational Support Troop was known as F-Troop, one of the most clandestine sub-units within Delta, and one that conducts close target reconnaissance and advanced force operations often prior to a Delta squadron’s arrival in a conflict zone.

  Uniquely, F-Troop included women, and at least one deployed to Somalia. In the film, it was incorrectly shown as Eric Bana’s Hooten that was tasked with such a mission whilst in the book, another operator, John M, was mentioned as having conducted it. A number of operators confirmed instead that in reality it was the Operational Support Troop: “They were the guys that went back out. They negotiated the return of the remains of Shughart and Gordon.”

  The true horror of what happened to the Super 64 aircrew and the snipers would soon become all too evident as stomach-churning images appeared on CNN of their bodies being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu. A shocked America began asking questions about a country few had even heard of.

  One naked body, likely from the Super 64 aircrew, was paraded through the streets on a wheelbarrow. A Pakistani UN contingent near the K-4 Traffic Circle saw the body and realized that it was one of the missing Americans. After trying to intercede, they were threatened by the mob and left the area.

  Another nude body was dragged through the streets by ropes in a horrific display of savagery. In one small mercy, all of the aviators and both of the operators had been shot dead before their bodies were desecrated.

  The bodies of Gordon and Shughart were likewise treated with savage indifference. The Somalis tore them to pieces. As noted previously, one of their severed arms was used to club Durant into near unconsciousness. Still images exist of the atrocious treatment of the bodies, but these are not reproduced in this book as a mark of respect to the families of the fallen.

  A Habr Gidr militia member interviewed by American broadcaster PBS tried weakly to explain the savagery:

  A person who’s [sic] father was killed, don’t you expect him to drag a dead body? If a person gets very angry he wants to vent his anger, he wants something to have all his anger accrued on. We as militia did our part of the fighting through the bullets, those people who were dragging the bodies were only small children and women, and that was their way of expressing their anger.8

  Gerry Izzo remarked: “When we saw the video of them dragging those bodies, our attitude changed. It hardened very much and it’s probably good that we never engaged them again because we probably would have shown much less restraint, much less control.” Similar feelings were voiced by a number of Delta personnel who even after the brutal battle of October 3 were champing at the bit to return to the city to rescue Durant. The feeling on the ground was not surprisingly one of barely suppressed rage: “We were pissed off, we knew they had guys missing, had guys killed. We were ready to go kill somebody,” said Delta Sergeant First Class Kelly Venden, a member of A-Squadron who flew in to reinforce the Task Force.

  Contained within a plastic garbage bag, one set of remains was unceremoniously dumped outside the US Embassy. Another was delivered by CIA informants. Tommy Faust mentioned: “HUMINT sources reported a body left at a tire roadblock in the city, and then managed to recover the body. It was one of us.”9 Another body was returned by the ICRC:

  The Red Cross brought in the remains of one of our casualties to the Swedish hospital at the airport. The Red Cross delivered several pieces of what appeared to be a black corpse, a total of less than 60 pounds. All of our casualties were white. However, the remains were evacuated to Dover AFB [Air Force Base] and DNA testing confirmed it was one of our SF soldiers. Evidently, the body had been temporarily covered in lime and buried which accounted for the discoloration. The other two MIAs, less CW3 Durant, were accounted for [and] were changed to KIA.10

  A-Squadron would arrive in Somalia on October 5, 1993 to relieve their battered and bruised colleagues in C-Squadron. Venden explained:

  Charlie was already there and after October 3rd, A-Squadron was ready to replace C-Squadron in the normal rotation. We were due to rotate in soon after October 3rd. October 3rd happened, we were already palletized to go over and once things went down we were called in and immediately flew out. We showed up on the 4th if not early morning of 5th October and took over the lead finding Aideed and finding our guys who were missing.

  Ultimately, the deployment of A-Squadron and A-Company of the
Rangers was an incredibly frustrating time which only made the Task Force Ranger losses even harder to comprehend as Venden recalled:

  We spent about six weeks there and after the first couple of weeks it became more of a “We’re just here to let people see us here, we’re not really looking for anybody,” there’s political talks, there’s been communications with Aideed so we’re really just there as a show of force. The next thing is that we’re flying Aideed around in our [US] helicopters – it was pretty pathetic from our point of view. Extremely frustrating. Once the politics took over, we just sorta hung out, did a lot of PT, ran on the beach …

  Venden confirmed that although Delta and the newly arrived Rangers were ready to strike, either against Aideed or in a hostage rescue mission to recover Durant, they never “spun up” on another mission: “When we first got down there, we were planning on hitting heavy. We were looking for Aideed, looking for Durant, our goal was to go and find these guys. We did not ever do a dry hole, we never had a location, and we never had any solid intel that I recall on either Durant or Aideed.”

  Still out in the city was Mike Durant, his status unknown. The overrun of the Super 64 crash site had been seen by the C2 helicopter and filmed by the Reef Point, so the JOC were aware Durant had been hauled away by the mobs, but they had no idea if he was still alive or had been executed – he was listed only as missing in action (MIA). The lack of remains at the crash site also gave rise to speculation that his crew and the Delta snipers might have also been captured, but they too were initially classified as MIAs.

  Durant had in fact suffered yet another terrifying incident as he was being transported away from the vicinity of the crash by the SNA militia. Whilst on the truck, Durant’s captors were, in the words of the official history of the 160th SOAR, “intercepted by local bandits who took Durant intending to use him for ransom. He was taken back to a house where he was held, interrogated, and videotaped. Later, when Aideed paid his ransom, Durant was moved to the apartment of Aideed’s propaganda minister.” He was held by the bandits for the first 24 hours of his captivity.11

  During those first hours, Durant could still hear the firefight continuing in the city as the eventual United Nations and 10th Mountain relief convoy fought its way into and out of the city. Durant heard helicopters overhead and mentally prepared for a Delta Force assault to rescue him, a rescue that sadly never eventuated. At some point before the transfer, the pilot was shot in the shoulder by a cowardly AK47-wielding bandit, inflicting a further wound upon the battered aviator. Once transferred to Aideed’s custody, the conditions of his imprisonment improved somewhat with ICRC packages and a Somali doctor visiting.

  The video Durant had been forced to participate in was transmitted by the world’s media, a still from which infamously made it onto the cover of both TIME and Newsweek Magazine along with newspapers worldwide. The videotaped interview makes uncomfortable viewing even today, as he is clearly in severe pain and being forced to answer questions. Gerry Izzo remembered watching the footage with other members of Task Force Ranger:

  As soon as I saw his leg turned 90 degrees and his beat-up face and everything, I thought he might have been mutilated. I could see the way he was trying to take the pressure off his back with his hands because he had fractured his L4, L5 vertebrae. I was watching that video and you’re sick in the stomach for him. I was hoping as I was watching it that the camera was then going to pan to the right and his co-pilot would be there, his crew chiefs would be there, but that wasn’t the case.

  The 160th SOAR aircrews rigged up a speaker system on a Black Hawk and flew nightly flights over the city, calling out to Durant to reassure him that they would not leave Somalia without him. “You could hear other US soldiers calling his name from above [through megaphones]; they didn’t know where he was but they were circling around above saying, ‘Mike, we won’t let you down. We won’t leave without you. We’ll get you home,’ said International Red Cross Committee representative Suzanne Hofstetter, who spent a total of 18 months in Somalia and who later visited Durant in captivity.12 The aircraft also played music including Durant’s favorite, “Hell’s Bells” by rockers AC/DC, in an effort to keep his spirits up.

  Hofstetter was taken to a house somewhere in southern Mogadishu to conduct a welfare check on Durant. She gave him a care package that included a Bible. Durant used the Bible as a means of recording what had happened to him in enigmatic marks and notations that would make little sense to his captors. When Hofstetter returned from her visit, she was asked questions by the Task Force Ranger J-2 staff but she could not provide any information due to the ICRC’s strict neutrality. If the Somalis discovered that she had assisted the Americans, Durant’s life, and the lives of future prisoners in war zones, would be placed at risk.

  Nonetheless Durant managed to sneak a covert message into one of the letters he was allowed to write to his family and to his unit. At the bottom of the page, he wrote “NSDQ,” a cryptic reference that only fellow Nightstalkers would recognize as the unit’s motto “Night Stalkers Don’t Quit.” In fact, the ICRC were suspicious of the “NSDQ” reference and scratched it out before handing over the letters. The initials were thankfully still legible when it arrived at Task Force Ranger. The J-2 teams pored over the letters looking for clues, in one instance focusing on Durant’s mention of looking forward to eating pizza upon his release as a possible indication that he was being held in or near a pizza shop.

  He was also provided with a radio that allowed him to listen to the BBC World Service and the local Armed Forces Network. On the latter, he heard his wife’s voice one morning. She had been interviewed by CNN and was replying to Durant’s letter the ICRC had delivered to her. In her statement she made a telling reference to the Nightstalker motto that Durant knew that his unit had asked her to include. Asked by the author what kept him going through his captivity, the aerial messages, the ICRC visit, or the interview with his wife, he replied, “All of the above, (and) my one-year old son, and being part of a unit culture that considers quitting to be an unacceptable alternative.”

  After the intercession of Admiral Howe, who passed a stark warning to Aideed that if Durant was not unconditionally released, the US would launch an all-out assault on Mogadishu in an effort to recover him, and by implication kill Aideed, the warlord ordered Durant to be freed the next day. Durant was delivered to the United Nations compound and immediately wheeled in for treatment at the American medical facility there. Word soon got back to Task Force Ranger and three Delta operators arrived to quiz him on the location and details of his captivity, with the hope that other members of Super 64’s aircrew or their team mates may have still been held at the same location.

  Durant later wrote a best-selling account of the mission and his captivity, In the Company of Heroes, which is highly recommended to all readers who wish to understand in greater detail the horrific 11 days he endured as a prisoner of war of Aideed. The pilot courageously managed to return to flight status and again piloted Black Hawks with the 160th SOAR until his retirement from the Army in 2001.

  In an October 6, 1993 National Security Council meeting, President Bill Clinton decided the hunt for Aideed was over and that the much-mooted dual-track political settlement would now be sought with the warlord. Launch authority was removed from Garrison and his staff. If Task Force Ranger wanted to launch any sort of operation, they would now require express Pentagon approval. Many felt understandably betrayed by the decision.

  On the same day, thousands of miles away in Mogadishu, a final tragedy was to befall Task Force Ranger. General Downing and Colonel McKnight were talking outside the hangar, leaning against a Humvee. A number of other Rangers and Delta personnel including Doc Marsh were also present in the vicinity. Tommy Faust also passed by on his way from the showers, pausing to briefly talk with Downing and McKnight before continuing on into the airport building his intelligence cell operated from.

  Moments after, an SNA mortar round landed where Faust had s
tood. It detonated, severely wounding 16 Task Force Ranger personnel including Downing, Marsh, and McKnight, and killing Sergeant First Class Matt Rierson, the seasoned assault team leader who had been so instrumental during the battle and on McKnight’s convoy.

  “They’d been trying to hit that airfield every day for three months,” said Norm Hooten. “Especially for someone like Matt who had gone through so much on that convoy and he had two small sons, a great family and was going to be a future leader in the Unit … he was really respected, one of the heart and soul members of C-Squadron. It was a blow to all of us.” Today, Rierson, a formidable pistol shot, is remembered within Delta by the Matt Rierson Trophy awarded during the Operator Training Course to the best pistol marksman during the training program.

  For Task Force Ranger, Operation Gothic Serpent was over. Delta’s C-Squadron and Bravo Company of the Rangers along with their attached Air Force and Navy personnel were soon rotated back to the United States. Their replacements, A-Squadron from Delta and A-Company from the Rangers, would soon follow.

  The last United Nations representatives left Somalia in March of 1995, effectively admitting defeat and ceding control to the clans. Aideed declared himself the President of Somalia, a position that not surprisingly failed to be recognized by the international community. He was eventually killed the following year after suffering wounds inflicted leading his forces against his former ally and Task Force Ranger target, Osman Atto.

  CHAPTER 9

  MAALINTII RANGERS