Black Hawk Down Major Jeff Struecker | Mike Ritland Podcast Episode 120

Mike Drop

Mike Ritland

Society & Culture, Documentary, Politics, News

4.9 • 6.3K Ratings

🗓️ 27 November 2022

⏱️ 143 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 1993, U.S. Special Operations Forces were sent to Somalia to capture war criminal Mohamed Farrah Aidid - a mission made famous by the movie "Black Hawk Down". For many, the movie's a glimpse into what really happened - but for Jeff Struecker, it's merely a shadow of a memory he's been remembering for 29 years. Because Jeff Struecker was there during the Battle of Mogadishu, and he remembers everything. Frankly, between serving 23 years in the military, raising five kids, earning a PhD, authoring six books, hosting a podcast, and leading the fine members of his congregation every single Sunday morning, it's still difficult to forget. That's why he's sitting down with Mike to tell his side of the story - the real story - and get to the bottom of how it all happened.

Chapters:

0:00 - Intro
2:10 - Best thing about being a pastor
3:55 - Favorite childhood memory
4:50 - Last book
7:50 - First three hours of the day
8:40 - Distance running and mountain biking
10:10 - Raising awareness on veterans suicide
13:25 - Growing Up Divorced
26:00 - Training to become an Army Ranger
28:00 - Panama invasion
35:30 - Carnage in the Gulf War
39:30 - One of the worst things he saw in Desert Storm
41:30 - Leading up to Somalia
45:00 - First days in Somalia
50:30 - Being a combat leader in this type of environment
55:30 - Black Hawk Down
58:10 - Reviewing the Film
1:01:00 - Timeline of the 18-hour firefight
1:05:30 - Most intense firefight of his life
1:06:30 - Black Hawks shot down
1:09:00 - UN Armor arrives
1:10:30 - Funny moments during the fight
1:13:00 - Sun comes up
1:16:30 - Zombie tactics
1:20:00 - What the movie got wrong
1:25:30 - Number of dead
1:28:00 - After the fight
1:30:00 - Combat stops in Somalia
1:32:00 - Stick with the fight until you win
1:33:00 - After Somalia
1:36:30 - Silver Star
1:39:00 - Joining the ministry
1:40:00 - Becoming an Army Chaplain
1:41:30 - Theology school
1:44:00 - History of Christianity
1:50:30 - Violence among denominations
1:57:00 - What is it like to be a chaplain in combat?
1:59:00 - Firefights as a chaplain
2:02:00 - Fears of starting a holy war
2:04:00 - Casualty Notification
2:06:40 - Perspectives on everyday problems
2:08:00 - Other veterans that are chaplains
2:10:00 - Requirements to be a chaplain
2:13:00 - Confidentiality as a chaplain
2:14:30 - Why does God let bad things happen?
2:16:00 - Families taking out their pain
2:17:30 - Poor leadership
2:20:30 - Wrapping up

Support Jeff Struecker:

Website: www.jeffstrucker.com
Podcast - Unbeatable with Jeff Struecker: https://open.spotify.com/show/0Kh6usOFkjXlaLn9efHe6n?si=bdddbeed58524a7b
YouTube: www.youtube.com/jeffstruecker
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pastorjeffstruecker
Instagram: www.instagram.com/jeffstruecker

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	And I remember looking down National Street. It's one of the only streets in
0:03.8	Somalia with a paved road. Now you are about to see something the public has
0:07.8	never seen before. I'm the last vehicle out and that street it's about 8.30
0:13.0	nine o'clock in the morning. It's glimmering. One of the most famous battles in
0:17.4	US history. It came to be known as Black Hawk Down. Like shining gold down the
0:23.6	entire street. A Black Hawk helicopter was shot down 18 Americans were killed.
0:29.2	I'm like, what on earth am I looking at right now? This town is nothing but dirt and sand and blood.
0:35.1	What am I seeing? This is Super 6 1. Moments after it was hit by a rocket propelled grenade.
0:41.3	And then it dawns on me. That's showcases. That's brass casing. This road is so full of brass
0:48.5	casings that it looks like the ticker tape parade in New York City. Every inch of the road is
0:56.1	sparkling from the sunlight from brass casing. We shot that much. I was thinking we shot that much ammo
1:03.7	tonight. That's insane.
1:13.4	Welcome to Mike Drop. The podcast where relevancy is irrelevant and we don't give a shit about your feelings.
1:20.0	Ladies and gentlemen, as always, it's both an honor and a pleasure to welcome my next guest to
1:26.3	the podcast. We spent 23 years total on active duty in the US Army, primarily with the third battalion,
1:34.0	75th Ranger Regiment. He's been in the invasion of Panama, the Battle of Mogadishu and Somalia,
1:39.8	and nine Afghanistan deployments and five Iraq deployments do the math on that. The guy has spent
1:46.9	more time in harm's way than half the people have been alive. He's both an author and a pastor.
1:54.0	So he's a man of the cloth that can read you your last rights and get you introduced to the man
1:58.7	upstairs. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the stage, Jeff Strucker. Man, it's good to be with you,
2:03.7	Mike. Did I pronounce your last name? It's long-you, Struker. But it's all good. Yeah, well, I screwed that
2:08.9	up already. Probably should have checked before we... I'm glad you're aware about it. Yeah, that's pretty
	...

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