1. In October 1993, American forces went into Somalia to begin assisting relief operations to help the citizens of Mogadishu. “They had come close to grabbing Aidid several times but that was not their only goal” (22). Their main mission on October 3, 1993, for the seventh time, was to capture Aidid and his men. Unfortunately, the intent of this mission was not successful due intervention by civilian solders.

2. In the early moments of the Battle of Mogadishu, the “US Army Rangers and Delta Force operators who were about to drop in uninvited on a gathering of Habr Gidr clan leaders” (3) that were holding a meeting caused the mission to take a turn in the wrong direction. This uninvited drop in had an impact on the mission because “this clan was led by a warlord Mohammed Farrah Aldid,” who was known to have attempted to kill US Army soldiers before “had picked a fight with the United States and it was no doubt going down”(3).

3. Eversmann was made the leader of his chalk because he was experienced and had known all of his “chalk” members “so well they were like brother.” (3). Also two other “men in front of him had been sent home due to illness and seizure” (10). A majority of the men under Eversmann were shot, however Eversmann had escaped any injury.

4. Chief Officer Wolcott was the pilot of the Black Hawk Super Six One. He was a well-liked pilot. “His unflappable cool had earned him the nickname ‘Elvis’, that and his dead on impression of the late rock idol” (77). The Super Six One helicopter was hit by an R.P.G. which spiraled to the ground. “The spin continued. The second turnabout was more violent…Elvis made the last radio transmission. –Six One going down” (79). The soldiers believed it would be hard to take down the Black Hawk because it was made to take on a lot of fire. It was also hard to launch R.P.G’s in the air. They should have changed their opinion about the ability to take out a Black Hawk when eight days before the battle another Black Hawk was shot down (88). During the crash Wolcott died from the impact of the Black Hawk hitting the ground. It had only taken a few minutes for help to arrive but by that time only 2 of the crew members survived (142).

5. Chief Warrant Officer Durant was a pilot of Black Hawk Super Six Four. Officer Durant’s helicopter had been hit with a rocket propelled grenade in flight, which caused the tail end of the helicopter to be blown off (107).
Many of Durant’s crew had been killed in the crash of super six four.
The people who rescued Officer Durant and his men where delta snipers, Sergeant Gordon and Sergeant Shughart but both of these men were killed in the line of duty. Officer Durant was not killed by the Somali mob for two reasons. One he gave himself up and two they could use him to trade. Once captured by the Somalians, he was taken into the city and put into a dark room (261). He was held captive to force the United States to pay a ransom for his release. During his captivity he was forced to be interviewed on camera and then broadcasted on T.V. This got the United States attention and officials were sent to Mogadishu to negotiate. Eventually the Somali’s got the message that “there will be a fight with your people”…and…”that would really be tragic for all of us, but that’s what will happen” (328) if Durant was not released immediately. Aidid agreed and Durant was turned over to Howe.

6. Stebbins was a little guy who had just graduated from college and went in to the military as a “chief coffee maker and paper pusher at war” (36). On the night of October 3, 1993 he was attacked four times which resulted in him being riddled with shrapnel and bleeding burns on his legs.

7. Sizemore was a big built guy from suburban America. His broad shoulders, big lips and big blue eyes earned him the nickname of Adonis with his buddies. Stebbins was the guy that made coffee for Sizemore and the others. However with Sizemore’s elbow in a cast they sent Stebbins in his place (156). As the battle spun out of control, Sizemore became wild with anger. He cut off his cast, found his pants and shirt, picked up some stray gear and jumped in the Humvee ready for battle. Standing in the wings was Anderson who should have been on the Humvee instead of Sizemore (159).

8. Corporal Jamie Smith had suffered a bad injury by being shot through his leg and severing a main artery (212). Corporal Smith was not immediately evacuated because Captain Steele did not want to risk another helicopter being shot down. The medics went right to work on Corporal Smith contemplating a blood transfusion however, finding the right blood type would be a chore and he had already lost too much blood which resulted in him dying (238). Upon the death of Smith the reporters attacked his family asking ridiculous questions and would not leave them alone. Due to the type of injury Corporal Smith endured, he should have been evacuated by medevac to a new location. If they had sent in a medevac team Smith would not have died at the very location he was injured.

9. Mohammed Farrah Aidid was the leader of the Habr Gidr clan, one of the most feared clans in all of Somalia (3). The Americans were targeting him and his gang because they were withholding food shipments from the citizens of Somalia. The United States were after two of his top men because they had caught them in an off limits area. The Somalian people retaliated against the Americans efforts to target some of their key people by mutilating the bodies of dead soldiers. In the aftermath of the battle, Aidid himself kept Mike Durant in captivity hoping for a trade with the U.S. but the U.S. would not make a deal (309). Upon Durant’s release, many of the soldiers viewed it as a slap in the face because they had risked their lives to save Durant and as soon as he was released they were ordered to stop fighting.