Eighteen Hours That Changed American Warfare — Mogadishu, 1993

Added: 2026-05-26

[00:00:00]October 3rd, 1993.

[00:00:03]3:41 in the afternoon.

[00:00:05]Mogadishu, Somalia.

[00:00:08]An American UH-60 [music] Black Hawk, call sign Super 6-1, is hit by an RPG and crashes [music] into a narrow city street.

[00:00:17]Within minutes, a second Black Hawk will be shot down.

[00:00:20]Within 18 hours, 19 American soldiers will die.

[00:00:25]The next 18 [music] hours will change how America fights wars.

[00:00:29]Task Force Ranger had been deployed in August 1993.

[00:00:33]Their mission [music] was to capture lieutenants of Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid, whose militia had killed 24 Pakistani [music] peacekeepers.

[00:00:41]Major General William Garrison commanded Task Force Ranger.

[00:00:45]His force was the 75th Ranger Regiment, Delta Force, >> [music] >> and the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment.

[00:00:53]The October 3rd raid was mission number seven.

[00:00:56]It was meant to take 45 minutes.

[00:00:59]It took 18 hours.

[00:01:01]The first Black Hawk was hit at 16:20.

[00:01:05]Master Sergeant Gary Gordon and Sergeant Randall Shughart of Delta Force volunteered [music] to defend the second crash.

[00:01:11]They died protecting pilot Michael Durant.

[00:01:14]Both received [music] the Medal of Honor posthumously.

[00:01:18]Pilot Mike Durant was captured and held by Aidid's militia for 11 days.

[00:01:22]Approximately 1,000 [music] Somalis died in the battle.

[00:01:26]American withdrawal from Somalia began 6 months later.

[00:01:30]Mark Bowden's 1999 book Black Hawk Down documented the battle minute by minute.

[00:01:36]Ridley Scott's [music] 2001 film followed.

[00:01:39]The battle reshaped American special operations doctrine for a generation.

[00:01:44]19 American servicemen died at Mogadishu.

[00:01:48]Their names are inscribed at the Special Operations Memorial at MacDill Air Force Base.

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