Posted on 02/19/2002 5:49:58 AM PST by TADSLOS
Now living in Madison, retired soldier talks about his comrades, the movie
Michael Durant was terrified.
He was mad as hell.
He was in excruciating pain.
The date was Oct. 4, 1993, and Durant, a chief warrant officer and Black Hawk helicopter pilot in the Army, was lying helplessly on the floor as a captor watched over him in a small home in Mogadishu, Somalia.
He'd been part of a mission - Restore Hope - that was trying to help quell the civil war and famine ravaging Somalia. But things had taken an unexpected turn for the worse - 18 Americans lost their lives and 73 were wounded; 500 Somalians were killed and another 1,000 wounded - in the biggest firefight since Vietnam.
Durant was alive but in bad shape. He'd suffered a crushed vertebra. A broken femur in his right leg protruded from the skin after his Black Hawk was shot down by Somalians. After being captured, he was shot and wounded in the shoulder and thigh. And his face was bloody and bruised after being hit repeatedly by the butt of a rifle.
Durant didn't know if he would be tortured, executed or both.
But as he lay there, frightened, Durant heard words echoing outside his window that gave him strength.
''Mike Durant, we will not leave you.
''Mike Durant, we are with you always.
''Do not think we have left you, Mike.''
American helicopters were flying overhead, broadcasting that message over and over.
His comrades wanted to give Durant hope.
They did. After being held captive for 11 days, Durant was released.
The story is now told in the acclaimed movie "Black Hawk Down."
''I can't even describe what those broadcasts meant to me,'' Durant, who lives in Madison now, said Wednesday. That was after he addressed more than 500 soldiers and civilians who attended a Soldier's Breakfast, sponsored by the Redstone-Huntsville Chapter of the Association of the United States Army, at the Officers Club.
''It's one of the most powerful things of the whole experience to me,'' he said.
The experience Durant and others endured during the 18-hour battle in Somalia has been widely debated the last eight years. Congress and President Clinton considered it a debacle, a mission gone sour, and pulled U.S. forces out of Somalia.
But soldiers like Durant who took part in the attack believe they carried out their mission - abducting two lieutenants of the Somalian warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid - then conducting a courageous rescue of 99 soldiers cornered by Somalians.
Mark Bowen, a writer for The Philadelphia Inquirer, wanted to set the story straight for the soldiers and wrote the best seller ''Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War.''
Durant, 40, retired from the Army and working as a program manager for NLX Corp., a computer simulation company based in Sterling, Va. Unlike some soldiers involved in the movie who attended the premieres and have done extensive interviews with national news media, Durant has taken a low-key approach. He didn't attend any of the premieres and only recently saw the movie that's been playing in Huntsville since Jan. 18.
''I went to see the movie Saturday,'' Durant said Wednesday. ''And the short answer is: I was proud of it. I see why it's done as well as it has. It wasn't entirely historically accurate, but I see why. It doesn't need to be to get the story across.
''It wasn't as emotionally difficult as I thought it would be,'' said Durant, who was warned by at least one friend not to see it. ''Two parts affected me - when Corporal (Jamie) Smith died and at the end when the list of names scrolled across the screen.
''It showed soldiers, not just us, but soldiers in general the way they ought to be shown - doing their job in spite of things they can't control.''
Durant told the crowd Wednesday that Oct. 3, 1993, ''was a day I'll surely never forget.'' The mission was supposed to be short and simple - fly in with Rangers and Special Forces, get the two bad guys, and fly out within an hour. Requests by the commander for more heavy artillery and tanks to support the mission were denied by higher-ups, a decision Durant said cost lives.
''It was a mission where blood was shed and lives were lost, and when the dust settled, and despite having requests for these assets denied, we made it happen anyway,'' Durant said.
Durant said the mission was going as planned until one of the Black Hawks was shot down and the two pilots, Cliff Wilcott and Donovan Briley, were killed. ''When my two friends went down, it changed my life forever,'' he said. ''We were asked to fly in and take their place. The shooting had become more intense at this point, and as I always tell people, I was scared.''
Minutes after Durant's Black Hawk was called in, it, too, was shot down. A crowd of Somalians attacked the crash site, killing everyone but Durant. Two Delta snipers, Sgts. Gary Gordon and Randy Shughart, volunteered to protect Durant and the crew and did so until the mob overran and killed them.
''We hit the ground hard, and I was knocked out,'' Durant said. ''When I came to, there were two American soldiers I knew standing right there.
''Everyone on the crash site was killed in that battle except me. Why I survived I'll never know. But I probably would not have survived if not for Gary Gordon and his friend Randy Shughart. They gave their lives to help me and my crew, and for that sacrifice they made that day, I'm eternally grateful.''
Gordon and Shughart were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously. Durant, who earned several medals, including the Distinguished Service Medal and Distinguished Flying Cross, doesn't consider himself a hero.
''I was just part of the overall mission,'' he said.
Don't try telling that to the soldiers who listened to his story Wednesday.
''Anybody who can display that kind of courage in the heat of battle is amazing,'' said Capt. Russell Cox, whose father was an aviator in Vietnam. ''He's an inspiration to any soldier. I, myself, aspire to be able to reach inside and find the bravery he displayed.
''Could I make it 11 days with my femur sticking out of my leg? He's a great inspiration and why I'm a soldier.''
our revenge will come at a cost to Americans who will have to give their lives.
Les aspin took the fall, but it was the klintoon who gave the orders.
Response force was Paki.
Freedom is not free. At what point does Justice end and revenge begin?
We may all be called upon to do this. Prepare.
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