Black Hawk Down: 29 years ago

Today 29 years ago, one of the most consequential battles in U.S. special operations history took place in Mogadishu, Somalia. Popularized first by the book and later by the film Black Hawk Down, Operation Gothic Serpent took place on October 3-4, 1993. And its legacy lives on to this day.

The cream of the crop

The special operations task force was comprised of the cream of the crop. All in all, the following units took place in the operation.

• C Squadron, Delta Force
• B Company, 3^rd Ranger Battalion, 75^th Ranger Regiment  
• 1^st Battalion, 160^th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR)
• Special Tactics Team, 24^th Special Tactics Squadron
• Navy SEAL sniper team, SEAL Team 6

The Night Stalkers of the 160^th SOAR flew the AH-6 and MH-6 Little Birds and the MH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, while the 24^th Special Tactics Squadron contingent was comprised of Air Force Pararescuemen and Combat Controllers.

Sandboxx News’ very own George Hand went to Mogadishu the day after the battle with Delta Force’s A Squadron to reinforce the battered task force. You can read about his experiences and those of his comrades in his highly acclaimed book “Brothers of the Cloth: True Accounts of Special Mission Unit Soldiers.”

In addition to Task Force Ranger, as the special operations task force was named, there was the 2^nd Battalion, 10^th Mountain Division in Somalia, and was serving as the quick reaction force.

The battle

A Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) task force was in Somalia in an effort to stop the civil war that was ravaging the African country.

The task force was going after Somali warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid, one of the key players in the Somali drama and the one responsible for much of the bloodshed in his country.  

The task force had been in the country for weeks before the battle took place on October 3. On that day, the task force was conducting a daytime raid to capture some key lieutenants of Aidid in downtown Mogadishu.

The assault force was divided into two parts: an air element that would fast-rope into the target and apprehend the high-value targets and a ground element that would drive into the city and pick up the special operators and their prisoners from downtown Mogadishu.

However, what was intended as a quick in-and-out operation ended up lasting hours as the task force was pinned down in the middle of the city surrounded by thousands of Somali militiamen after two MH-60 Black Hawk helicopters (Super 61 and Super 64) were shot down with rocket-propelled grenades.

The intensity of the fight resulted in many awards for the participants. Two Delta Force snipers, Master Sergeant Gary Gordon and Sergeant First Class Randall Shughart received the Medal of Honor, the highest award for valor under fire, for their decision to be dropped in the crash of the second Black Hawk Down and give their lives to protect the crew.

Recently, the U.S. military has been recognizing special operators who fought at the Black Hawk Down battle, including Delta Force operators, Rangers, and Night Stalkers.

Last year, the Army upgraded 58 lesser awards that had been given to special operators to the Silver Star, the third-highest award for valor in combat. The Army also awarded two Night Stalkers with the Distinguished Flying Cross, the second-highest award for heroism in aerial combat.

The most recent event took place last year when the U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) recognized a number of Night Stalkers who had fought in Somalia.

“There are hundreds of valorous acts that occurred that day and beyond. That type of sacrifice, love of nation, and total commitment is an indelible attribute of this organization. These heroes are cut from a special cloth of patriots,” Lieutenant General Jonathan P. Braga, the commanding general of the United States Army Special Operations Command, had said during the ceremony.

Was Operation Gothic Serpent a success or failure?

For years, Operation Gothic Serpent has been viewed as a failure. The loss of 19 Americans is undoubtedly a tragedy, and losing highly trained special operators in the dirt streets of Mogadishu isn’t necessarily “cost-effective.” And yet this is war.

The task force went in and achieved its objectives of capturing the key lieutenants of Aidid. In the process, moreover, they brought destruction to the Somalian militias, killing more than 1,000 of them during the two-day battle. In the end, the task force achieved most of its objectives and brought everyone back, some sooner than others.

However, one of the lesser-known outcomes of the operation has to do with the terrorist attacks of 9/11. In the late 1990s, Osama bin Laden had moved his al-Qaeda terrorist group from Sudan to Afghanistan in preparation for attacks on the U.S. and Americans all over the world.

Traumatized by the public outcry that came after the Black Hawk Down incident, the Clinton Administration became very hesitant to put boots on the ground when it had actionable intelligence about the location of bin Laden before the turn of the century. Instead, the U.S. opted to launch cruise missiles against al-Qaeda training camps with little success. As a result, bin Laden and his lieutenants were able to proceed with their terrorist plots and attack the U.S. homeland on September 11, 2001.

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• Counterterrorism in an age of great-power competition