Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War

Wilkinson‘s team reaches the Super Six One wreckage. Sergeant Fales sustains a shot to the leg after the team sets up a protective perimeter. Wilkinson enters the felled Black Hawk and finds that the pilots are dead.

Abdiaziz Ali Aden watches the men go in and out of Super Six One. He sees one of the men climb into what he calls the “trash hole“ and hide himself, with only his rifle sticking out as he shoots at the Somali militia.

Sergeant First Class Al Lamb is the man in the trash hole. He sees Somalis on the rooftops firing down at them with AK-47s. Phipps breaks down a door and takes cover in a house. He shoots several fighters inside. When he emerges, a grenade explosion has injured him and his left leg isn’t functioning.

Black Hawk pilots Mike Goffena and Jim Yacone circle above Durant‘s helicopter. One of the 10th Mountain companies is getting closer to the crash, but Goffena can see that they will not get there before the Somali mob overruns them. Goffena begins dropping in low so that the Delta snipers on board can shoot at anyone with a weapon. Every time they kill someone holding an RPG, a new fighter picks it up. Yacone knows that if they do not get more support on the ground, the Somalis will overcome the crash site.

Dale Sizemore is listening to the radio reports. Days earlier, he had hurt his elbow “goofing off in the hangar“ (149) prior to a volleyball game. After hitting his elbow on the ground while wrestling, it swelled to the point where the joint had to be drained and put in a cast, taking him out of the mission. He has enjoyed his time in the hangar, especially his proximity to the Delta operators, whom he worships.

Prior to the raid, a Humvee arrived with two injured men. One of the men was rent in half. Sizemore, eager to avenge his fallen colleagues, is furious that he can’t partake in the mission. He is unaware that his best friend, Ruiz, is mortally wounded.

Specialist Steve Anderson is also listening to the radio reports. He has grown up with chronic asthma, and the tension of the radio reports threaten to close his lungs. The Humvee carrying Blackburn arrives, and Anderson is “ashamed of himself” (158) for being glad that he did not have to go on the mission. Specialist Brad Thomas cries as he tells Anderson that Pilla is dead.

Struecker tells his men that he is going back into the city. Sizemore cuts off his cast with scissors and puts on his gear, shaming Anderson even more. Brad Thomas tells Struecker that he does not want to go back out, and Struecker tells him:

Don’t think of yourself as a coward. I know you’re scared. I’m scared shitless. I’ve never been in a situation like this either. But we’ve got to go. It’s our job. The difference between being a hero and a coward is not whether you’re scared, it’s what you do while you’re scared (160).

Struecker takes the convoy to the city where they meet massive gunfire. A helicopter pilot gives them another route. Given the roadblocks erected by the militia, their only option is to go all the way around the city and try to reach Durant from the other direction. Struecker gives the orders, and the convoy changes directions.

Harrel approves Yacone’s request to let two Delta snipers, Shughart and Gordon, off the Black Hawk to defend the crash site from a field 25 yards away. Once they are on the ground, they sprint toward the crash site. 

After telling the teacher to stay in the shed with the children, Yurek and his men keep that area of the city calm. Officers call Yurek to the crash site to help. He and his team advance slowly under fire. They make it three blocks without any injuries, then meet with DiTomasso at the downed helicopter. A heavy gun pins them down until Yurek sees the gun mounted on a car down the street. He destroys the car with a grenade launcher.

Barton, Twombly, and Nelson are west of the crash. A Somali appears and almost shoots Nelson, but Twombly shoots the Somali first. His gun is so close to Nelson’s head when he fires that Nelson can’t hear for hours afterward.

Howe sees the RPG hit the Black Hawk while the men are still on the ropes. He doesn’t yet know why the rescue team is dropping in. Captain Miller tells him that he must take his Delta team to the crash site to help. Howe thinks, “This is going to be fun” (171). Aaron Williamson sustains a shot to the leg less than a block after they start. Howe tries to keep the team moving fast. He believes his men are the perfect team for this situation. The Rangers are nervous, but they feel reassured by the calm D-boys.

From the crash site, Goodale sees Howe’s team coming just as someone shoots him in the leg. A Ranger named Bullock drags him off the street.

Captain Steele hears that the second Black Hawk—Durant’s—has gone down, making the situation more urgent. He makes it to the doorway where Bullock dragged Goodale. Two Delta men—one named Fillmore—are killed next to them. Steele, feeling his mortality, thinks: “This is for keeps” (179).

Mohamed Sheik Ali has been fighting in the militia since he was 13. He has since become a professional mercenary. He will fight for or against Aidid, depending on who is paying him. Because they are unreliable and dangerous, “[m]ost Somalis had come to regard Sheik Ali and men like him as a plague” (180). Sheik Ali believes the Americans want to turn the Muslims into Christians and is thrilled to fight against them. He hides for two hours, popping out from cover whenever he can do so unobserved. Shrapnel hits him in the face as an M-203 round explodes nearby.

The smell of gunpowder reminds Private David Floyd of hunting with his father. He is so frightened that he wants to stop moving, but he knows that would be suicide. He imagines his parents sitting down to breakfast, unaware that their son is about to die on a street in Africa. When he sees Fillmore die, he knows that they have little chance of surviving.

Steele stops near the spot where Fillmore died. A man named Lechner suffers a shot to the leg, destroying his shinbone and foot. Bullock tries to drag him off the street. Steele calls for extraction, and Harrell tells him they are trying to reach him. Lechner’s wound is the worst that any of the men have seen.

Durant regains consciousness in the wrecked Black Hawk around the same time. His left tibia is broken. He takes off his wedding ring and watch and sets them on the dashboard of the Black Hawk. His copilot, Ray Frank, has an injured back. Shughart and Gordon arrive as Durant is dragging himself through the broken windshield. Durant thinks that the two D-boys are part of a rescue team and does not realize they are alone.

Mo’alim reaches the second crash site. He cannot see a direct way to attack the Rangers at the wreckage. He waits for more of his men to catch up with him so they can plan.

Goffena watches the mob grow as he circles above. The other pilots begin warning him away from the shooting, as more of the Somalis fire RPGs at his helicopter. He watches the site of the second crash and sees Rangers under fire. One of them dies. An RPG hits Goffena’s helicopter, and he realizes that he will have to crash land. Just before he hits the ground, he finds a way to manipulate the failing helicopter controls and manages to land at a nearby port facility, a safe area. A Humvee rushes toward his helicopter after he lands.

The Somalis have surrounded Durant and the two Delta snipers. Durant panics and fires his weapon at a wall where he can hear Somalis talking. He hears the angry mob approaching. Shughart cries out in pain from the other side of the helicopter. Durant believes that he is about to die as the crowd approaches, and he expects that the Somalis will mutilate his corpse.

Hassan Yassin Abokoi has a gunshot wound to his ankle. He watches the mob advance on the Americans. They pull the one living American away from the helicopter. Soon he sees “people running and parading with parts of the Americans’ bodies” (195).

Mo’alim wants to keep Durant as a prisoner and forbids the mob from killing him. He thinks they will be able to use him as leverage against the Americans. The mob strips off Durant’s clothes to make sure he has no hidden weapons.

A man strikes Durant in the face with a rifle butt. Someone throws dirt into his face. The crowd begins to carry him. Someone grabs and squeezes his testicles and penis. He feels that he is “no longer at the center of the crowd, he was in it, or above it, perhaps” (197). He passes out from the pain of his broken femur.