Black Hawk Down

by Mark Bowden

  20 Durant.

  The Alamo

  1 Wilkinson, Mabry, Dowdy.

  2 “A grenade came ... body of the helicopter,” Nelson, Barton, Yurek, Twombly, Wilkinson. “The American forces ... he wasn’t heard,” P. Howe, Miller, Lamb, Watson, Steele, Perino, DiTomasso, Nelson, Twombly. The “friendly fire” incident was related to me by both Nelson and Howe. In my interview with Twombly, he was still angry about getting hit with the LAW.

  3 “Perino and his men ... between his legs,” Perino. “Across the street, ... ‘I’m hit’!” Nelson, Perino. “The lieutenant could tell ... a doctor, pronto,” Perino, Stebbins, Nelson, Schmid. “Perino radioed Captain Steele ... ‘and defend it,’” Steele, Perino, Schmid, DiTomasso. “Schmid was still ... Schmid pleaded,” Schmid. “The lieutenant radioed ... to hang on,” Perino, Steele, command-net tapes.

  4 “Stebbins shook with fear ... waiting for him,” Stebbins, other Rangers. Steele said he never authorized his men to go out on missions without taking their NODs. It was evidently a decision made quickly by the men themselves as they suited up for this mission. The Rangers were most likely imitating the D-boys, who had more flexibility to decide what they did or did not need. It may have been another instance of Steele losing strict control over his men as a result of living in close proximity to Delta. On the other hand, Steele didn’t bring his NODs either. The devices were clumsy to have hanging around your neck when doing things like roping out of helicopters and running around, and they were fragile. Once damaged, it wasn’t easy to get a replacement. “The Little Birds ... unscathed,” Twombly, Barton, Nelson. “An old man ... loves that donkey,” Nelson, Yurek, Floyd, Twombly. “Closer to the wrecked ... on the street,” Belman, Dowdy. It is not mentioned in Captain Coultrop’s written account of the battle. “Then there was ... woman were gone,” Yurek, Stebbins, Twombly, Nelson, P. Howe. “When the sun ... in fire and light,” Stebbins, Nelson, Twombly, Yurek, Barton, P. Howe.

  5 Wilkinson, Air Force Magazine, Airman, Night Flyer.

  6 Stebbins, Wilkinson.

  7 Floyd, Siegler, Collett.

  8 “Across the city ... under Kowalewski’s skin,” Marsh, Adams. Adams’s written account suggested that the medical team was surprised and somewhat overwhelmed by the volume and severity of casualties, but Marsh, who headed the team, pointedly differs. He felt the medical response, which he headed, was well-prepared. In Hackworth’s Hazardous Duty, the celebrated former colonel–cum–military gadfly writes of his postbattle visit to wounded Rangers and Delta soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital: “They were terribly shot up. Many were arm and leg amputation cases. Many had been lying on the ground for hours. ‘Why so many amputations?’ I asked one of the medics. ‘Infections,’ he said. Somalia is one of the filthiest places in the world and those guys had been lying out there with bad wounds for hour after hour.” In fact, only one soldier lost a limb in the Battle of Mogadishu, and that was Sergeant Brad Hallings, whose leg was shorn off by the RPG explosion that shot down Super Six Four. Pilots Goffena and Yacone crash-landed that chopper on friendly ground, and Hallings received immediate medical care. None of the men pinned down overnight around crash site one lost a limb. Ray Dowdy, the crew chief who survived the crash of Super Six One, had the tips of two fingers shot off. Medics at crash site one had antibiotics with them and used them throughout the night, a big reason why, according to Marsh, the postwound infection rate was, in fact, “lower than usual.” “While all this ... force in Mogadishu,” Goffena, J. Yacone, Matthews, Jones, Dave McKnight, Marsh, radio tapes, battle videotape, Mo’alim. “Unless they ran out of ammo ... ammo and water,” Radio tapes, Dave McKnight. “Black Hawk Super Six Six ... for the night,” P. Howe, various Rangers, Matthews, radio tapes.

  9 “This ungainly distribution ... cornered with Steele,” radio tapes, Steele. “Then, just before dark ... to stay down,” P. Howe.

  10 “When Steele and his men ... further confused matters,” Steele, Watson, M. Goodale, Lechner, Floyd, Ramaglia, Collett, Kurth, K. Thomas, Siegler. “At one point ... sigh of relief,” Steele, Collett. “Steele shouted back ... no back doors,” Steele, Watson. “He could talk ... anybody out, over,” Steele, Perino, command-net tapes. “Medic Kurt Schmid ... just barely alive,” Perino, Schmid, Jim Smith, Jamie Smith (letters). “When the moon came up ... to ignore procedure,” Steele. “Still, it had seemed ... ‘your night vision?’” M. Goodale, Young. “Steele was mortified ... no one nodded off,” Steele. “Miller wasn’t sure ... cover the southern intersection,” P. Howe. “The Ranger commander ... ‘all these wounded,’” Steele, Perino, Watson, radio tapes. Steele’s reluctance to move his men up, as Miller wished, became part of the case against him made by some of the Delta soldiers after the battle. To me it seems well advised. The other Rangers with Steele all felt it was the right decision, and all the Delta soldiers I interviewed expressed particular respect for Sergeant Watson, who actually convinced Steele not to make the move. More serious, perhaps, was Steele’s refusal to confer with Miller. Paul Howe explained that it was critically important for the whole force on the ground to be in constant communication, even if only for them to keep track of where shots were being fired in order to better appraise the situation at all points on their L-shaped perimeter. My sense of it is that Steele’s difficulties with the Delta unit over the previous weeks, and the scorn some of the unit had for him, came to a head under the stress of the battle. There was no clear chain of command on the ground because no one had anticipated the Delta assaulters and the Rangers being thrown together as a fighting force. This would seem to be a significant oversight, and might have created bigger problems if the ground fight had gone a different way, but in fact it had little consequence in this battle. The Little Birds kept the Somalis at bay for the most part, and the two units did what they had to do without the two captains working together. “This was frustrating news ... sober satisfaction,” Steele, Collett, Floyd, radio tapes, Hooten. Miller’s determination to move his men north, closer to his position, was to secure the southwestern intersection of the block where most of the force was pinned down. From his position down the block, it was not possible to see what was happening on the east-west alleyway that divided Steele’s force from his. Steele and his men were in a courtyard halfway down that block, so they could not see what was going on in the alley either. “—Hey, Captain, we’ve got ... get his people moving!” Steele, Perino, radio tapes. “From the commanders’ perspective ... were ready to move,” Dave McKnight, David. “Harrell reported ... ready to attempt it,” McKnight, Matthews. “Miller and Steele ... Steele told him,” radio tapes, Steele, P. Howe, Perino. “Not long afterward, ... He was gone,” Schmid, Perino. “Harrell was still ... ‘just been KIA,’” radio tapes, Steele. “Medic Schmid ... gut feeling,” Schmid. “Steele, too ... other guys yet,” Steele, Watson. “Goodale was in high spirits ... Smitty was dead?” Goodale, Ramaglia, Lechner, Atwater, Watson. “Private George Siegler ... meant her no harm,” Siegler. “It got quieter ... beat of his heart,” Kurth.

  11 “Sergeant Waddell ... passed around greedily,” Waddell. “When are we gonna ... sips of water,” Phipps. “When it was clear ... at the waist,” Lamb, Yurek, Nelson, Twombly. “Abdiaziz ... was not hit,” Aden. “Tim Wilkinson ... ‘my health, right?’” Wilkinson, Stebbins.

  12 Hooten, Floyd, Ramaglia, K. Thomas, Steele, Collett, Watson.

  13 “From overhead ... doing his job,” Battle video, P. Howe, J. Yacone, Goodale, Steele. “One block up ... in the world,” Yurek, P. Howe, Bray (from Air Force Magazine), Waddell.

  N.S.D.Q.

  1 “Michael Durant heard ... with the chain,” Durant. “What Durant didn’t know ... get him back,” Sharif Ali Mohamed, Firimbi. “Mo’alim’s men ... given Durant up,” Mo’alim. “If the Habr Gidr leader ... or pay,” Sharif Ali Mohamed, Firimbi. “Durant’s right leg ... cools down,” Durant.

  2 “Word of the big fight ... speaking tour,” Downing, Lake, On the Edge. “Garrison’s move ... if necessary,�
�� USSOC report (p. 10), from Rysewyk’s “Experiences of Executive Officer ...” (p. 12), testimony of Garrison and Montgomery before the Senate Armed Forces Committee (May 12, 1994), Dave McKnight, Matthews, Marsh. “Lieutenant Colonel Bill David ... the two crash sites,” David. “While the commanders ... ‘do it for him,’” Marsh, Eversmann, Size-more, Anderson, Squeglia, B. Thomas. “It was 9:30 P.M. ... had to be the priority,” operational time line, USSOC report, David. “To the Rangers ... it was now 11:23 P.M.” Operational time line, Cash, Ahlfinger, Guelzow, Keller, Lepre, David, Meyerowich.

  3 Steele, Perino, radio tapes.

  4 “Captain Drew Meyerowich ... mortally wounded,” Meyerowich, Rysewski. “For all his careful planning ... working his radio,” Squeglia, details on Lamb’s wound from Marsh. “All of the way out ... that part of Mogadishu,” Sizemore, Anderson, Kallman, Struecker.

  5 “Earlier in the day ... Ismael Ahmed,” Kassim Sheik Mohamed. After spending the morning touring Kassim’s ruined facilities in Mogadishu, Kassim accused me of being an American military officer (I have never served in the military). I denied it, and he rejected my denial, explaining that he had watched how carefully I had placed my feet while touring blasted locations in the city. “It shows you have experience looking for mines,” he said. “How much of an expert do you have to be to watch where you put your feet where there might be mines?” I asked. I reiterated that I had never spent a day in the military, at which Kassim said my comment proved I was lying, because “all Americans must spend two years in the military when they finish school.” I told him there was no use in my arguing further with a man who obviously knew so much about my own country. Kassim and other Somalis eagerly showed me graves, their scars, and damage to their property, evidently hoping that the information I gathered would help document a case for some kind of damage claim to the UN.

  6 “Half of the rescue convoy ... returned to the convoy,” USSOC report, Vega, Dave McKnight. “Meyerowich’s northern half ... ‘Americans get out!’ he said,” Meyerowich, Kaiser, Nearpass, Gay. “One of those who emerged ... ‘Sorry, man,’” Lepre.

  7 Radio tapes, Steele.

  8 USSOC report, Goodale, Rodriguez, Stebbins, Wilkinson, radio tapes, Yurek, P. Howe, Steele, operational time line. Much has been made of how the task force stayed in the city overnight because they would not leave behind Wolcott’s body. It is true that American soldiers will go to great lengths to recover the bodies of their fallen brothers, evidenced by the long wait and strenuous effort here to recover Wolcott’s body, but the ninety-nine men who fought through the night in Mogadishu were there because they had little choice. A number of commanders forthrightly said they would have sadly but certainly left Wolcott’s body if the chance had presented itself to evacuate their wounded and beseiged troops.

  9 Steele, Perino, Yurek, Ramaglia, Collett, Nelson, P. Howe, Floyd, Watson.

  10 Abdi Mohamed Elmi.

  11 Abdi Karim Mohamed, Bashir Haji Yusuf, Hassan Aden Hassan.

  12 USSOC report, Marsh, Adams, Dowdy, Young, Siegler, Perino, Nelson, Schilling, Steele, radio tapes, Matthews, Kallman, Goodale, Gould, Rodriguez, Anderson, K. Thomas, Cash, Phipps, Floyd, Stebbins, Watson, Sizemore, Atwater, Ramaglia.

  13 P. Howe.

  14 Sizemore, Cash, Steele, Floyd, Diemer, Telscher, Nelson, Eversmann, Perino, Watson.

  15 “American awakened ... by angry crowd,” The New York Times (Oct. 5, 1993), The Philadelphia Inquirer, CNN. “President Clinton ... he demanded,” Drew, On the Edge, Lake. “The trickle ... One of the guys,” S. Shughart. “In a bedroom ... wasn’t giving up hope,” W. Frank, B. Yacone. “At the hangar ... kind of animals ... ?” J. Yacone. “The D-boys ... a massacre,” P. Howe, Goffena, Matthews, McKnight. “Mace ... courage and cool,” Nelson, Sizemore, Goodale, Floyd.

  6 “Mike Durant’s captors ... feed starving people?” Durant, CNN archives. “Willi Frank ... off the frame!” W. Frank. “Durant felt okay ... with Aidid,” Durant, Firimbi, Sharif Ali Mohamed.

  17 “Garrison and the ... the fight,” McKnight, P. Howe, J. Howe, Matthews. “Former U.S. Ambassador ... Lake asked,” Oakley, Lake. “Now they were in trouble ... released. Now,” The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer (October 5, 1993), On the Edge, (pp. 325–326), Lake, Oakley.

  18 Durant, Firimbi.

  19 Jim Smith, U.S. Army Mailgram.

  20 Shughart.

  21 D. Beck. DeAnna Joyce has remarried. She is now DeAnna Joyce Beck, and with her husband’s blessing actively keeps alive her memories of her first husband.

  22 “Durant’s fear ... out the initials,” Durant, Firimbi. Durant’s hastily scribbled note was painstakingly analyzed by army intelligence officers for hidden messages and possible clues to Durant’s whereabouts. The reference to pizza was weighed as a possible hint that the pilot was being held near the Italian compound. The request that prayers be said for him might mean he was being held in or near a mosque. Three references to receiving medical treatment might point to a location near a hospital. It was ultimately decided, correctly, that the note meant nothing more than it said. “After Hofstadter left ... had gotten through,” Durant, Huband. While some have criticized Durant for making these comments, the commanders I interviewed, both on and off the record, unanimously praised the pilot’s performance in captivity. “Mike Durant did everything right,” said General Wayne A. Downing, who was commander of U.S. Special Operations Command at the time.

  23 USSOC report, P. Howe, Marsh, Eversmann, Steele, Perino, Schmid, Rodriguez, Sizemore, Anderson, M. Goodale, K. Goodale, Lechner, Stebbins, Othic, Spalding, Galentine, Burns. Marsh has recovered fully enough from his severe injuries to run a thriving private practice in Virginia, supervise a clinic at the University of Virginia Hospital, manage (with his wife) a growing family and a large horse farm, and serve as a volunteer firefighter and chief physician at a nearby maximum security prison. I spent a day trying to keep up with the doctor, whose energy and enthusiasm are inspiring. Galentine’s thumb was reattached in surgery, but he has never regained much use of it. “It’s kind of worthless,” he says.

  24 W. Frank.

  25 Durant, Firimbi.

  26 Oakley, Zinni.

  27 Firimbi, Durant, The New York Times (Ocober 15, 1993). Durant met with an emissary from Aidid in a Tennessee hotel lobby in 1996, with Special Forces soldiers staked out nearby to keep an eye on things. It was a perfectly innocuous meeting. The man, who runs an orphanage in Baidoa, brought along various items (among them a T-shirt depicting a white American hand and black Somali hand clasped in friendship) as a goodwill gesture, and delivered a letter from Firimbi, who urged Durant not to harbor bad feelings. The pilot was invited to return to Somalia for a friendly visit. Durant wrote back to Firimbi, but declined the offer of a return trip.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENT

  I would like to thank my friends Max King and Bob Rosenthal at The Philadelphia Inquirer for their exceptional vision and support. Black Hawk Down began as a newspaper project and is the kind of story no other newspaper in America would have undertaken. Max and Rosey saw the potential for it early on, and enlarged my own ambitions for it. By helping to craft my first draft of this story into an episodic newspaper series, David Zucchino was its first editor and substantially contributed to this book’s final shape. I owe a great deal to photographer Peter Tobia, who made the very difficult trip to Mogadishu with me in the summer of 1997, and returned with a stunning collection of work documenting that blasted city.

  I have made several friends for life reporting this story. Since I had no military experience of my own, the last two years have been a crash course in martial terminology, tactics, and ethics. I have learned a great deal from Lieutenant Colonel L. H. “Bucky” Burruss, U.S. Army (ret.), a great soldier and fine writer, who was kind enough to seek me out and act as a first reader and expert adviser. Master Sergeant Paul Howe and Dan Schilling, a former air force combat controller, were also early readers and made thoughtful and helpful suggestions. I would not
have been able to get started on this story without the help of Jim Smith, a former Ranger captain whose son, Jamie, was killed in Mogadishu. Jim kindly introduced me to some of his son’s fellow Rangers. Walt Sokalski and Andy Lucas of the U.S. Special Operations Command public relations office set up the initial interviews with Rangers and 160th SOAR helicopter pilots that launched this project. Thanks to Jack Atwater of the U.S. Army Ordnance Museum for his quick course in Weaponry 101. These are just a few of the hundreds of military people who have generously shared their time and expertise, some of whom have asked me not to name them. I am grateful to Ibrahim Robles Farah for his help in getting Peter and me in and out of Somalia.

  Thanks again to my very patient wife, Gail, and our family, Aaron, Anya, B. J., Danny, and Ben, who permit me to live and work in a way that often complicates their own lives. My agent, Rhoda Weyr, has proved her unerring judgment once more by steering me to Morgan Entrekin, whom I feel very lucky to have as an editor, publisher, and friend, and Assistant Editor Amy Hundley. Together with the rest of the very smart and successful team at Grove/Atlantic, they have created one of the finest care and feeding systems for writers currently in existence.

  INDEX

  Abdikarim, 292

  Abokoi, Hassan Yassin, 195

  AC-130 Spectre, 335, 340

  Adams, Captain Bruce, 229, 293

  Aden, Abdiaziz Ali, 80–83, 86, 143–44, 203, 232, 251–52