October 1993

Modern War Institute

John Amble

Government, News

4.7 • 798 Ratings

🗓️ 7 October 2024

⏱️ 80 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Thirty years ago this week—on October 3, 1993—US special operations forces launched a mission in Mogadishu. It was part of Operation Gothic Serpent, which was aimed at capturing Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. The mission was intended to be of a short duration. But things changed when, shortly after members of Task Force Ranger launched from their base, fighters on the ground began firing on US aircraft. The battle that ensued—which would later become the subject of journalist Mark Bowden’s book, Black Hawk Down, and subsequently a film of the same name—lasted well into the next day. In this episode, you'll hear three people who took part in that battle. Listen as they share their firsthand perspectives of the action over those two days, describing the challenges they faced, reflecting on what was required to overcome those challenges, and exploring the lessons the battle holds for future Army leaders. The MWI Podcast is produced with the generous support of the West Point Class of 1974.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I felt like we were pretty comfortable when we headed out on the 3rd of October.
0:09.0	The radio call comes in that, okay, we got a mission.
0:13.0	The mission that day was to capture two of ID's key lieutenants.
0:18.0	When they took the lead and we started going north, that's when all hell broke loose.
0:21.3	We started getting heavy, heavy fire.
0:25.0	It was a race because you have all the Somalis, the S&A, the militia, racing to get to the
0:31.0	helicopter, and you had us racing to get to the helicopter.
0:36.2	Hey, welcome back to the Modern War Institute podcast, brought to you with the very generous
0:40.7	support of the West Point Class of 1974.
0:43.8	I'm John Ambo, editorial director at MWI, and on this episode, we're looking back to almost
0:48.9	exactly 31 years ago when U.S. Special Operations Forces launched a mission in Mogadishu, Somalia.
0:55.7	The targets were senior associates of a Somali warlord, Mohamed Farah ID.
1:00.6	Besides the operators who would assault the target building, there were rangers tasked with
1:04.1	securing a perimeter and a number of U.S. helicopters flying above in support of the mission.
1:09.4	The plan was straightforward, but when two of those helicopters,
1:12.5	both U.S. Army Blackhawks were hit with rocket-propelled grenades and crashed in the city, everything
1:17.8	changed. You may have read the book Blackhawk Down, which tells the story of the battle of Mogadishu,
1:23.2	or you might have seen the movie that was based on the book. But in this episode, we hear from
1:27.2	three people who took part in the battle.
1:29.7	A few years ago, we invited them to West Point to share their stories.
1:33.4	Their conversation was really fascinating.
1:35.6	It was moderated by our former director, Colonel Liam Collins, and you're about to hear
	...

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