Gary Gordon and Sgt. At 1542 hours the assault began, and immediately things began to go wrong. Praesidus brings homage to the military watch tradition. The 160th SOAR deployed into Afghanistan, along with the 1st American Special Operations forces. However, armed militiamen and civilians, some of them women and children, converged on the target area from all over the city. Colin Powell, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was reportedly so upset he "had to screw myself off the ceiling". What he didnt realize was that word was being passed down through Somali channels that a lightly defended American helicopter had been shot down in the city. Gordon was killed by enemy fire. This tactic allowed SOF and the Filipino forces to provide security and to determine the local needs. No rescue team was immediately available, and the small surviving crew, including one of the pilots, Michael Durant, couldn't move. Gary Gordon and Randall Shughart were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for their valiant efforts. During that fight, an MH-60L Black Hawk helicopter with the Armys elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR) was brought down after being hit in the tail rotor by an RPG-7. SOF were given key roles in Operation Iraqi Freedom such as stopping Saddam Hussein from creating an ecological disaster by dumping massive quantities of oil into the Arabian Gulf and lighting oil fields on fire as he had done during Desert Storm. One Ranger QRF member was shot and killed inside the aircraft, and two more died as they tried to exit and set up fighting positions. On October 26-27, 2019, the Night Stalkers inserted D-boys (members of 1st SFOD-D or CAG) and Rangers into the Idlib province as part of Operation Kayla Mueller. 1993 - Somalia Operation Restore Hope / Gothic Serpent. Operation Enduring Freedom extends into the Philippines and is almost exclusively a special operations effort. The teams did all this with an amazing variety of equipment: everything from donkeys and horses to computers and satellite communications. 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Helicopters used by the 160th are mostly combat-oriented. After a short standoff, al-Baghdadi killed himself alongside two of his children, activating a suicide vest. Soldiers Hurt in Attack in Mogadishu", "The United States Army in Somalia, 19921994", United States Army Center of Military History, "Rangers Honor Fallen Brothers of Operation Gothic Serpent", "10th Mountain Division remembers Battle of Mogadishu 20 years later", "Fort Drum Soldiers remember Battle of Mogadishu", "Critical Analysis on the Defeat of Task Force Ranger AU/ACSC/0364/97-03", "A History of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) Chapter IX: Somalia/Operation Gothic Serpent", "The United States Air Force in Somalia, 19921995", "The CIA in Somalia: After-Action Report", "If You Liked Beirut, You'll Love MogadishuI * An Introduction to ARSOF in Somalia", "The Effort to Save Somalia August 1992 March 1994", "Task Force Ranger Operations in Somalia 34 October 1993", United States Army Special Operations Command, "United States Forces, Somalia After Action Report", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Operation_Gothic_Serpent&oldid=1145556277, United Nations withdrawal on 28 March 1995, 24 captured (3 killed, 1 wounded during extraction), This page was last edited on 19 March 2023, at 19:46. Shortly after arriving, 5th Special Forces Group ODA augmented by Air Force Special Tactics personnel and assisted by Afghani opposition forces infiltrated contested areas. Durant didnt know it at the time, but the rest of his crew had also been killed by the angry mob. [5], In Mogadishu, the task force occupied an old hangar and construction trailers under primitive conditions, without access to potable water. "SOCOM's profile needed to be raised to get the money, the appropriations and the authority to start the command in a way that it would be significant.". They reached the embattled troops around 0200 on October 4th. Some members of the angry mob began stabbing and hacking the bodies of the dead American aviators with knives. Both pilots were killed instantly in the crash and two of the crew chiefs were severely wounded. Durant was released 11 days later. McKnights crew became known as the Lost Convoy. He had served for 22 years in the Army (thirteen of them as a Night Stalker), accumulating over 3,700 flight hours. U.S. Army Gen. James Lindsay became U.S. Special Operations Command's first commander. Commentdocument.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id", "a37701bdd2ae2a0cf04eb433d26425b4" );document.getElementById("c08a1a06c7").setAttribute( "id", "comment" ); Content on this website is free to use and share, but please provide a link back to Spec Ops Magazine as a source. Click to enlarge. Whether the mission is to infiltrate, exfiltrate, resupply, or conduct reconnaissance, the 160th SOAR, also known as Night Stalkers, are dedicated to completing their mission and have adopted the motto, Night Stalkers dont quit!. Patrol craft with SEALs aboard were used to board ships smuggling contraband into Haiti. We never had sufficient understanding of the tactical situation to do it. Two Delta snipers, Master Sergeant Gary Gordon and Sergeant First Class Randy Shughart, provided cover from a helicopter and repeatedly volunteered to secure the crash site. Special Operations News Update Monday, July 20, 2020, Copyright 2023 | WordPress Theme by MH Themes. By June 1994, the SEALs had boarded hundreds of ships. Eventually, their bodies were recovered. His fellow SOF aviators reinforced this point to him by flying around the city repeatedly, announcing from loudspeakers,Mike Durant, we wont leave you behind!. Raymond Alex Frank - 160th SOAR, US Army| KIA Oct 3rd. Both of the pilots were killed on impact, but the crew survived the crash landing. and one Malaysian soldier were killed as part of the rescue forces. The operation took place from August to October 1993 and was led by US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). 15:42. In April 1996, members of the 3-160 (A) battalion demonstrated their skill and dedication during Operation Assured Response, the evacuation of Americans in Liberia. However, he required immediate medical attention, and the Army evacuated him to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, where he underwent numerous surgical procedures to repair his femur and vertebrae. Footage from the 2001 film Black Hawk Down, sourced from YouTube. (Mohamed Siad Barre) 199019911 October 2, 2020 Matt Fratus Boots and rifles are lined up in front of four MH-6 Little Birds of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment in Mogadishu, Somalia, in October 1993 during a memorial service for 18 Americans killed in the 'Black Hawk Down' battle. These pilots, nicknamed Night Stalkers, are experts at flying in darkness, using night-vision devices to navigate as if it were daylight. Today Mr. Durant is the owner and CEO of Pinnacle Solutions, a highly successful engineering services company located in Huntsville, Alabama. The Black Hawk was forced to return to the base. Durant was the only survivor. The 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR) holds a unique and important position within U.S. Special Operations. Garrison put together an ad-hoc relief convoy consisting of Task Force 214 Infantry, 10th Mountain Division, accompanied by Malaysian and Pakistani U.N. forces. Because they basically had four litter patients.. Box 378 Red Hook, New York 12571 United States, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. Image derived from CIA maps and a video by the Department of Veterans Affairs. These UAVs provide Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities and can fly and remain on target for 25+ hours. SOF were assigned to take down key government sites followed by a link-up with conventional forces similar to the invasion of Panama in 1989. Operation Gothic Serpent was a military operation conducted by United States special operations forces during the Somali Civil War with the primary mission of capturing faction leader Mohamed Farrah Aidid. On October 20th, 2021, Michael Durant announced that he was running for a seat in the US Senate from the State of Alabama. Tactically, the Scud would not have a major impact, but its strategic effect was felt Jan. 18 when seven Scuds hit several Israeli cities. Two Black Hawk helicopters operated by the Night Stalkers, a nickname for the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (160th SOAR), were shot down in the firefight. "On the House side, it was Rep. Dan Daniel who played the lead role in pushing the legislation through.". PO Box 1077 MURFREESBORO, Tennessee 37133 United States, P.O. Somali casualties differ widely depending on the source but were anywhere between 350-1000 dead and another 1000+ wounded. On the afternoon of 3 October 1993, informed that two lieutenants of Aidid's clan were at a residence in the "Black Sea" neighborhood in Mogadishu,[43] the task force sent 19 aircraft, 12 vehicles, and 160 men to capture them. Cornell Lemont Houston Sr. - 1st Plt. One unit I did "business" with regularly was the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR) - the Night Stalkers. 160th helicopters flew in US SOF on operations to seize and search Saddam's palace compounds. Durant was in constant pain and under fear of death while held captive in his cell, but as a member of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR), the famed Night Stalkers, he knew he would not be left behind. 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