On October 3rd, 1993, a joint task force of Army Rangers and Delta Rangers were dispatched into the war torn slums of an uncontrolled United Nations section of the city Mogadishu, Somalia. The mission that day was only supposed to last at most an hour, but ended after a day of nonstop gunfights. When the initiative was lost, that’s when hell broke loose and prevented this mission from going according to plan and causing a disaster. The main objective of the mission was to was to capture high value individuals who were leaders of the Habr Girdr clan, led by Mohamed Farrah Adid, by storming a compound in an area the wasn’t in control of the United Nations Forces. The mission started with Delta Rangers landing on the roof of the compound from …show more content…
It crashed about 2 miles away from the other crashed helicopter. This caused an even larger problem because there were no spare men to devote to the new crash site. Master Sergeant Gary Gordon and Sergeant First Class Randy Shughart were both providing sniper support from another Black Hawk when they witnessed the second Black Hawk crash. Knowing that the crew of the second Black Hawk wouldn’t get any support for a long time, they requested to be deployed near the crash site to form a perimeter. There was a crowd of around a thousand angry Somalians and militia approaching the crash site. They knew the risk, but still requested to be deployed. They were deployed from the Black Hawk and made their way to the second crash site. Once they got there, they moved the only surviving crew member, Mike Durant, out of the crashed Black Hawk and into a small, half destroyed stone hut to protect them from behind. Both MS Gordon and SFC Shughart valiantly defended the crash site, but were eventually killed by the surrounding mob of a thousand armed people. Since Mike Durant couldn’t move on his own, he watched from his stone hut the Somalians pass the bodies of SFC Shughart and MS Gordon around the top of the cheering crowd. After a few minutes, some of the Somalians noticed Mike Durant and charged at him. The Somalians then started punching and kicking Durant
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Show MoreThe 2nd Brigade of 101st Airborne Division found out in the summer of 2004 that they had to prepare for the war in the Middle East more particularly for Iraq. With Colonel Todd Ebel in Command of the 2nd Division with a year to prepare over 3,400 men and woman he got right to work. Colonel Ebel started by choosing his staff and who he thought was fit to take charge and lead this ever more complicated war. It was a huge religious civil war taking place in Iraq at the time with the Sunnis at war against the Shi’ite and after the capture of Saddam insurgency started uprising immediately. This uprising along with the uprising of Muqtada al-Sadr a key leader that had lots of violent followers that soon grew into a form of a militia called Mahdi Army which became another huge problem for the U.S. because the line between a legitamite populist movement and a huge theocratic organized-crime and terror ring was a thin one. The 2nd Brigade Infantry Battalions consisted of 1-502nd (First Strike) and 2-502nd (Strike Force) and 2nd brigade as a whole is known as the “Black Hearts”. Ebel’s mission was to deny insurgent’s access to Baghdad through his AO and as intelligence increased to uproot and destroy insurgent safe havens, while also training the IA so they could ensure the stability of the region later on. Ebel chose Lt. Col. Kunk as commander of “First Strike” 1-502nd and Lt. Col. Haycock as commander of “Strike Force” 2-502nd. By Ebel’s personality evaluations of Kunk and Haycock he decided that Kunk would work in the area that involved him being more engaging where populist centers were and work with local officials and Haycock more in the fighting areas. Kunk was in command of 3 rifle companies, 1 weapons company, 1 logistics company...
The book Black Hearts begins by painting an awful picture of a crime scene that was reported to 1st platoon Bravo Company of the 1-502nd 101st Airborne Division. The soldiers that are sent to investigate find that an entire family has been murdered, the daughter had been raped, and someone attempted to set the house ablaze, the family had all been killed in a seemingly brutal execution, while investigating one of the NCOs found a shotgun shell which he thought was strange because most Iraqis do not use shotguns. He compiled the evidence to be sent up to higher and they chalked it up as another Iraqi on Iraqi sectarian execution. Then the book takes us to before any of that happened, the book focuses on a battalion in the 101st Airborne Division, leading the battalion was Ltc. Kunk, he ruled with an Iron fist and was very hard on his subordinates. Within the battalion the book focuses primarily on Bravo Company, who was headed by Cpt. Goodwin. Goodwin was a competent leader but Ltc. Kunk had a reputation for being very hard on his company commanders and having very little faith in their abilities. Pre-deployment while at JRTC (Joint Readiness Training Center) he would explode on his commanders, and tell them that they were doing everything wrong, criticizing and degrading them. This wore down on his commanders and especially Goodwin, Goodwin would begin to second guess his decisions, making him less effective as a leader and making him make more mistakes than before, this would make Kunk even more upset and he would berate him even more than he would in the first place. The battalion would be deploying into the “Triangle of Death” a patch of ground south of Baghdad. It ran along one of the major highways that led into Bag...
Between ten to fifteen Taliban found a ocation that abled them to set up from a distance and allowed them to fire from behind cover. During the ambush the Taliban fired AK-47s, RPGs (Rocket Propelled Grenades) and PKM machine guns. U. S. forces were able to successfully able to launch a counter-attack and get out of the “killzone”, only after two Americans were killed and five were wounded. The Taliban had a high ratio of tracer rounds compared to normal which created a wall of fire to the left of the platoon, Sgt. Brennan and Spc. Eckrode who were walking at the front of the single file formation were wounded in the initial attack. The rest of the squad members found cover within a couple of feet from where they had been standing and dropped to the ground so they could fire back effectively and controlled from their positions. Spc. Giunta began to direct his fire team while Staff Sgt. Gallardo tried to like with Sgt. Brennan and Spc. Eckrode. While Spc. Giunta was firing back he realized that the Taliban was in an “L” shaped position and direct two of his soldiers to the rear so that the enemy could not roll through their line from the right side. When Staff Sgt. Gallardo realized that he could
Black Hearts was about the 2005-2006 deployment of the 101st‘s second brigade‘s 1-502nd (First Strike) to Iraq. The book more specifically honed in on Bravo Company and their first platoon’s decent into complete madness throughout the deployment. The 1-502nd and its commander Lt Col Kunk, was tasked with the mission of getting control of and hold the land in-between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. Kunk was a particularly difficult man to get along with. He would explode and go on a tirade over just about anything, big or small. This caused serious problems at meetings when he only wanted things his way and would personally attack his commanders who he thought he could not trust. This area had been recently dubbed as the “Triangle of death”. The cities that were in this area were Yusufiyah, Mahmudiyah, Lutufiyah, and notably a thermal power plant that was never finished that housed many insurgents almost like a FOB. Bravo Company was sent to take care of a particularly nasty part of the Battalion’s AO; The north-western-side that encompassed Yusufiyah and the unfinished thermal power plant. Upon arrival to Iraq and to their AO, Bravo Company was to take over the duties of the 48th infantry brigade who was there before them. After riding around with the 48th Brigade to learn how things were being run, Bravo Company started to realize how scared the 48th were to even leave the wire. Any patrols that needed to be done were done in a Humvee that just raced around the area and got back to the FOB ASAP. Once they fully took over their AO from the 48th they started on building up fortifications and doing patrols of the area. One road in particular, Route Sportster, had been giving patrols and Humvees trouble since it was always laden...
army out of harms way. The author briefly discusses the troubles at Kip’s Bay and Fort Washington.
Robert Rogers and his rangers are an excellent example of special operations and their use. Many lessons can be derived from the raid on Saint Francis. To this day, special operations organizations trace their heritage back to Robert Rogers and his use of unconventional warfare in the French and Indian War.
This entire incident was by far the toughest on Jimmy Cross. He had to deal with himself and his corrupt soldiers. He was emotionally shook up with Kiowa's death and he did not appreciate Mitchell's reaction. Accidents like this one lead to a distant relationship between the officer and the soldiers. Soldiers usually protest and officers have to punish them. This of course leads to more violence and some of the outcomes can be deadly.
The battle started when Navy SEAL, Petty Officer First Class Neil Roberts fell from a MH-47E Chinook, on an attempted landing to an unknowingly hot LZ, when he lost his footing due to a combination of RPG blast and spilled hydraulic fluid of the mangled aircraft. Razor 03, the call sign of the Chinook was eventually forced to land putting a gap of 4 miles and several thousand feet between Roberts and the rest of his team.
In the late evening of March 3, two SEAL teams aboard two MH-47s Chinook Helicopters were to arrive in Gardez for immediate insertion into the Shahi-Kot valley. Due to time constrains, a helicopter insertion was needed for the teams to reach the peak before dawn. The two teams were picked up by the two MH-47s, around midnight but one of ...
While there are several incidents of successful personnel recovery recorded throughout history, the recovery of Air Force Captain (CPT) Scott O’Grady during the Bosnian War presents an interesting study. CPT O’Grady’s personal conduct as a result of his training greatly increased his chances of being recovered. Additionally, the units involved in removing CPT O’Grady from the battlefield operated in an almost textbook fashion.
On December of 1992, U.S. troops landed in Somalia. It was Thomas E. Ricks’ first deployment as a Pentagon Reporter. Opening the beginning chapter, he speaks of his first-hand experience he encountered while traveling with a squad from Alpha Company of the 1st battalion of the 7th Marines. Exceptionally qualified, his work on Making The Corps was cited by Thomas E. Ricks himself. Few events were videotaped, and some related by several participants and observers. Thoughts of Platoon 3086 and military documentations, such as “Recruit Incident Reports” and “Recruit Evaluation Cards”, were used as well to get an inside feel of the way recruits and Drill Instructors see Boot Camp.
On the month of April in 2004, in the city of Habbaniyah, Iraq, a brutal and terrible act took place which ignited one of the bloodiest battles in the history of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). Four Black Water security members were killed and publicly maimed. The resulting battle left a high casualty rate as well as hundreds of American service members being wounded. This is the story of the events that took place after the events in the city of Habbaniyah.
...icemen. Secondly, after the first murder, the Battalion no longer had the chance to leave. They were forced to shoot from there on out. Even still, members were still hurt by what they were doing. I believe, if members walked out after the war and could shoot someone without their feelings being hurt, they would be a killer.
The narrator opens the conversation with the white haired man by stating, “We had a mission today. Target was ten kliks south of here? (...) It was my first mission like that…” (284). It is important to note the way in which our narrator trails off at the end of his statement. The narrator purposely avoids specifying the contents of the day’s mission because he is haunted by guilt. The uncertainty of the narrator’s mindset is later reiterated when he expresses, “I just never killed anybody before. Neither have I, he says. But I did. I think. I mean, we just shot the rounds off” (284). The key words in this excerpt are “we just shot the rounds off”, so he feels as though he did not play a major role in the deaths of the enemies. This mindset can be connected to a conversation had earlier in the story between the narrator and his crew. In this situation, the crew is discussing who should receive recognition for killing the enemy. Our narrator is clearly uncomfortable with this debate and makes the claim that since the ammo for ICM came from the Marines, they should also be held responsible for the deaths of the enemy troops. We see our narrator try to divvy up the blame for the death of the enemy troops to lessen his guilt. This debate along with the dialogue between our narrator and the old gunnery sergeant further
Gordon, M. & Friedman, T. (1993). Details of U.S. raid in Somalia: success so near, a loss so deep. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/25/world/details-of-us-raid-in-somalia-success-so-near-a-loss-so-deep.html [Accessed: 21 Feb 2014].