Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War - Net Assessment - Book Review

Air & Space Power Journal, Fall, 2002 by Jon Campbell

Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War by Mark Bowden. Penguin Group (http://www.penguinputnam.com), 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, 2000, 400 pages, $13.95 (softcover).

Black Hawk Down, a historical document written in the same style as a memoir, deals accurately with a battle that occurred between US Task Force Ranger and Somali forces in Mogadishu, Somalia, on 3 October 1993. These events are also the subject of the movie Black Hawk Down, based on Bowden's book and released by Columbia Pictures in 2001. The book and movie both provide exceptional insight into the reasons why Delta Force, Air Force combat search and rescue (CSAR) assets, Navy SEALs, and Army Rangers--the finest ground operators in the world, fielding state-of-the-art equipment--experienced over 50 percent casualties in 18 hours of fighting against a third world enemy who had little, if any, formal military training and fought only with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades (RPG).

In the early 1990s, the United Nations (UN) decided to intervene militarily in Somalia to feed the people and begin the process of building a democratic nation, but its forces met resistance from the most powerful clan, the Islamic Habr Gidr, headed by warlord Mohammed Farrah Aidid. Several bloody incidents led UN and US leaders to conclude that Aidid was an obstacle, so they decided to bring in Task Force Ranger, a joint unit consisting of Delta Force, Ranger, SEAL, and Air Force CSAR personnel to deal with the problem. By this time, Aidid and his clan considered themselves at war with the United States.

At midafternoon on 3 October, this force of 160 men, 19 aircraft, and 12 vehicles set out from their base at Mogadishu airport to "snatch and grab" two leaders of the local Habr Gidr clan from a target location only three miles from the base. The Delta Force operators or "D-boys," as the Rangers called them, would crash the party in the heart of clan territory and make the actual arrests. The Rangers would isolate the area from ground interference with air support provided by AH-6 Little Bird and Black Hawk helicopters. Four additional aircraft were to fly surveillance. Inserted by Black Hawks, the entire force planned to withdraw with the prisoners by ground convoy. Since this was a lightning strike, designed to take less than an hour, most of the operators left behind their canteens, their ceramic chest and back protectors for their flak vests, and their night-vision equipment.

Because intelligence had determined that the RPGs did not represent an air defense threat, the Black Hawks flew low over the city with shooters on board to support the ground operation. By this time, responding to several weeks of US helicopter presence, al Qaeda operatives had shown the Somalis modifications to the RPGs that would make them more effective, such as adding curved tubes to guide the rocket exhaust in a safe direction.

As a result, an RPG soon destroyed a Black Hawk tail rotor, and the helicopter went down in the city. Several Ranger and Delta elements of the attack force immediately secured the area around the chopper. The main attack force tried to move by convoy from the target location to pick up the crew and return to base but became disoriented in the city streets and drove around in circles through heavy fire looking for the downed bird. As their losses mounted, they were forced to return to base, leaving about 100 Americans surrounded at the crash site.

Air Force special operations CSAR personnel, displaying tremendous courage, were inserted by air under fire into the area, after which reinforcing elements of the attack force arrived and began fortifying their positions. As night fell, they regretted their decision to leave behind the night-vision equipment. Repeated attempts by the Somalis to mass forces and overrun these American positions were neutralized by the US air cover's rockets and Gatling guns. In all, RPG hits put five Black Hawks out of commission during the battle; three made it back to base.

It was well past midnight before an armored column supported by elements of the 10th Mountain Division could be assembled and a rescue started for the trapped Americans. Operating in heavy fire, the column finally extracted the pinned-down forces and their captives, but 18 Americans lost their lives in the process. Somali losses numbered 500--1,000 killed, with total casualties probably running over 5,000.

President Bill Clinton decided to terminate the operation and pull Task Force Ranger out quickly. A few months later, all US forces withdrew from Somalia. The UN nation-building effort collapsed almost immediately after that, and the United States released all Somali captives. Aidid and al Qaeda hailed this as a great victory for Islam. Aidid was killed three years later, but his death made little difference to the political situation in Somalia To this day, the country remains an extremely poor, politically bankrupt nation with substantial al Qaeda involvement.