Black Hawk Down

Black Hawk Down is a story written by Mark Bowden, It tells the story of how a crew of Delta and Ranger Boys flew into Mogadishu, a city within Somalia. The mission of these men was to conduct a raid on a building in the heart of the city; they were looking for a man named Mohamed Farrid Aidid. Aidid was the warlord leader over the area and was responsible for withholding American and Foreign aid to the people of Somalia. The warlords were attempting to rule the people of Somalia using starvation as their main weapon. Delta Company was being sent into the city of Mogadishu to forcefully remove Aidid and his followers to restore order and to reestablish a supply chain to the starving Somali’s. It was October 3rd 1993, and the D-Boys, Delta Company, were preparing themselves for a quick strike on a suspected house that could possibly be holding Aidid or several of his lieutenants. The mission was supposed to be a quick in and out, taking an hour to possibly 30 minutes or less. If everything was to go to plan the D-boys would have successfully grabbed and tagged Aidid and at least two of his lieutenants, and be back to eat supper and sleep comfortably in their beds. Because the mission was only to last a few minutes the Ranger’s supporting the D-boys instead of preparing for a long fight left behind vital night vision supplies and even water. This would result in trouble for the men entering into Mogadishu as the fight would not take 30 minutes, but would result in a long gruesome 15 hour battle. The main message Bowden tries to portray in the story is that of brotherhood. The men on the ground were fighting for their lives. They deeply cared for each other and when one of their battle buddy’s was lost they tried their hardest to never leave a fallen comrade behind. These men never gave up and always stood ready to fight to protect those around them. Another message to be taken from Bowden’s book is to adequately prepare for the fight. The men who were out in