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Antuz78
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Black Hawk Down
For me it was COMPULSORY to open a thread about Black Hawk Down. It's not that I generally like war movies, but this one deserved it, it's really worth watching...not only for our brave Hoot man, but for the episode in itself, for the comrade-related-messages that passed through the movie and for the way I consider soldier.
No need to post a synopsis...for the newbies who still have to watch the movie, but also for the ones who've already learnt it by heart (like me!), here's some stuff I've found surfing the net...
WHO'S HOOT?
Norm Gibson is part of the "D-boys", the Delta Force Rangers who were part of the tragic mission in the movie, Black Hawk Down. Though the movie is based on the best-selling book of the same name and the real life events, Gibson, nicknamed "Hoot", is an amalgamation of real life soldiers involved in the October 3, 1993 Mogadishu, Somalia rescue. Hoot is a stark contrast to the young Marines who are excited about being in battle. He is instead a bit jaded and weary by fighting.
Now, if some of you wonder if this Hoot Sergeat really exists, the answer is no, he doesn't.
He's just a prototype, or rather...he existed/exists, but not under the name of Norm Gibson.
Most of the people mentioned in the movie still exist, for example...
Pvt. First Class Todd Blackburn, 18, a member of Chalk Four. He missed the rope when he jumped from the helicopter and fell 70 feet to the street.
Spec. James Cavaco, 24, of Massachusetts. He was assigned to the ground convoy in the initial assault.
First Lt. Tom DiTomasso, led Chalk 2 to the northeast corner of the target house.
Chief Warrant Officer Michael Durant, 32, a native of Berlin, N.H., and pilot of Super 64, one of the Blackhawks used to ferry Rangers to the target house. Durant's unit, the ''Nightstalkers,'' is considered the finest helicopter aviation unit in the Army. Durant's helicopter was shot down during the battle
Staff Sgt. Matt Eversmann, 26, leader of Chalk Four. The Oct. 3 battle was the first time he commanded a group in combat.
Maj. Gen. William F. Garrison, the two-star commander of Task Force Ranger. He is a major figure in U.S. Army special operations. During the Vietnam War, he helped direct the now-infamous Phoenix program, which targeted Viet Cong informers in South Vietnam.
Sgt. Mike Goodale, 23, of Pekin, Ill. He was assigned to Chalk One.
Master Sgt. Gary Gordon, 33, a veteran Delta commando from Lincoln, Maine who was a sniper in the back of Mike Goffena's Super 62.
Lt. Col. Danny McKnight, commander of the ground convoy in the initial assault.
Spec. Shawn Nelson, a 23-year-old Ranger from Atlanta, Ga., who spent three years after high school in a corporate training program to be a systems analyst. When the program unexpectedly closed, Nelson joined the Army. He was Chalk Two's M-60 gunner.
Sgt. Dominick Pilla, 21, of Vineland, N.J., an M-60 machine gunner assigned to Staff Sgt. Jeff Struecker's humvee. He was the first American to die in the battle when he was shot in a humvee racing to evacuate a wounded Ranger
Sgt. Lorenzo Ruiz, 27, of El Paso, Texas. He was assigned to the ground convoy in the initial assault.
Sgt. First Class Randy Shughart, 35, a veteran Delta commando and native of Newville, Pa. He was a sniper in the back of Mike Goffena's Super 62.
Dale Sizemore, 21, from Clinton, Illinois. Joined the Rangers after high school. He was injured horsing around in the hangar and was waiting for a flight home the day of the battle.
Cpl. Jamie Smith, a Ranger who was shot in the upper thigh. His comrades held his femoral artery together to try to save him.
Capt. Mike Steele, 31, commander of the Rangers assigned to the task force. A native of Statham, Ga., he played on the offensive line for the 1980 national champion University of Georgia. Steele roped into the battle on Chalk One, and was the commander of the Chalk teams that roped in near the target house.
Chief Warrant Officer Cliff Wolcott, the veteran pilot of Super 61, the first Blackhawk shot down in the battle.
If some of you's wodering what they are now...
Staff Sgt. Matt Eversmann, who led Chalk Four, is now a sergeant first class with the Ranger regiment at Fort Benning, Ga. He received the Bronze Star with Valor Device.
Pfc. Todd Blackburn recovered from the injuries he received falling from a helicopter at the beginning of the fight, and now lives in Pensacola, Fla.
Chief Warrant Officer Mike Durant now flies an AH-6 Little Bird for the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment at Fort Campbell, Ky., where he also supervises use of the unit's sophisticated flight training simulators. He and his wife, Lorrie, now have two children. He received the Bronze Star with Valor Device and a Distinguished Flying Cross.
Maj. Gen. William F. Garrison accepted full responsibility for what happened during the battle. He spent two years heading the J.F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center before retiring from the Army on Aug. 1, 1996, the same day that Mohamed Farrah Aidid died in Mogadishu. He lives on a ranch in Texas
Capt. Mike Steele, who received the Bronze Star with Valor Device for his actions as commander of the Rangers during the fight, is now a major with the 82d Airborne Division.
Spec. Dale Sizemore, the big Ranger from Illinois who cut a cast off his arm to join the fight, left the Army and now is in college in Illinois studying to be an elementary school teacher.
Lt. Col. Danny McKnight, commander of the Lost Convoy who was wounded during its wanderings, received the Bronze Star with Valor Device. He is now a colonel.
Killed on Oct. 3 and 4, 1993
With posthumous awards.
Sgt. First Class Randy Shughart, a Delta soldier killed defending the crew of Super 64, the Medal of Honor.
Master Sgt. Gary Gordon, a Delta soldier who was killed after jumping in to defend the crew of Super 64, the Medal of Honor.
CWO Cliff Wolcott, pilot of Super 61, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star and the Air Medal with Valor Device.
Cpl. Jamie Smith, who bled to death with the pinned-down force around crash site one, the Bronze Star with Valor Device.
Sgt. Dominick Pilla, who was killed on the convoy rescuing Pfc. Todd Blackburn, the Bronze Star with Valor Device.
Pfc. Richard Kowalewski, who was killed on the Lost Convoy, the Bronze Star with Valor Device
Sgt. Lorenzo Ruiz, who was killed on the Lost Convoy, the Bronze Star with Valor Device.
Sgt. First Class Earl Fillmore, Delta soldier killed moving to the first crash site
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7/31/2006, 9:15 pm
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Antuz78
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Re: Black Hawk Down
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
AT PRESENTATION OF MEDAL OF HONOR
POSTHUMOUSLY TO MASTER SERGEANT GARY GORDON
AND SERGEANT FIRST CLASS RANDALL SHUGHART
During a military operation on October 3rd, two American helicopters were downed by hostile fire. Although United States Army Rangers established a defensive perimeter around the first downed helicopter, they could not reach the second one quickly by land. In the wreckage of this helicopter lay four injured Army crewmen.
Another helicopter with Sergeants Gordon and Shughart on board was dispatched to provide cover from above. But they came under withering fire, and the two sergeants instinctively understood that if the downed crew was to stand a chance of survival someone would have to get them on the ground.
Immediately Sergeants Gordon and Shughart volunteered to go. They were told, no, it's too dangerous. They volunteered again. Again, they were told no. They volunteered a third time, and permission finally was granted.
Sergeants Gordon and Shughart knew their own chances of survival were extremely bleak. The pilot of their helicopter said that anyone in their right mind would never have gone in. But they insisted on it because they were comrades in danger, because they believed passionately in the creed that says, "I will not fail those with whom I serve." And so they asked their pilot to hover just above the ground, and they jumped into the ferocious firefight.
The citations that will be read shortly describe the extraordinary courage that Sergeants Gordon and Shughart demonstrated in the battle that followed. Gary Gordon and Randall Shughart died in the most courageous and selfless way any human being can act. They risked their lives without hesitation. They gave their lives to save others. Their actions were clearly above and beyond the call of duty.
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7/31/2006, 9:23 pm
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Antuz78
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Re: Black Hawk Down
BROTHERS TO THE END
by Dale Sizemore
Together, as Brothers:
We've laughed and cried.
Together, as Brothers:
We fought side by side.
These two different worlds
From which we came,
But in our hearts
We were one and the same.
This place this creed
That we live by,
I never would have dreamed
That you would ever die.
To those who remember
You were a man among men.
To me you were more
You were my best friend.
Someday, somewhere
We will meet again,
Because we will always be
BROTHERS TO THE END!
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7/31/2006, 9:25 pm
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Antuz78
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Re: Black Hawk Down
Not for fame or reward. Not for place
or for rank. Not lured by ambition
or goaded by necessity. But in simple
obedience to duty as they understood it.
These men suffered all, sacrificed all,
dared all and died.
(Dedicated to Shughart and Gordon)
Author Unknown
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7/31/2006, 9:27 pm
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Antuz78
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Re: Black Hawk Down
oh! Forgot! The info were take from the website:
http://www.specialoperations.com/Army/Delta_Force/
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7/31/2006, 9:33 pm
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Antuz78
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Re: Black Hawk Down
LITTLE GLOSSARY:
Blackhawk - A Sikorsky-made UH-60 helicopter used primarily as a troop transport. It has a pilot and co-pilot and two crew chiefs who each man miniguns, extremely rapid-fire machine guns that fire up to 4,000 rounds per minute.
DELTA FORCE: The US Army's elite counter-terrorism unit, made up of three 150-man squadrons of specially trained professional soldiers, most of them in their late 20s or early 30s, products of a tortuously rigid selection process. The Army does not officially acknowledge that the unit exists. The Rangers called them ''the D-boys.''
Little Birds - The fast, tiny and highly-manueverable bubble-front AH-6 (Attack Helicopter-6) and MH-6 (Military Helicopter-6) helicopters. The AHs are attack helicopters, armed with miniguns and rockets. The MHs deliver Delta soldiers to their target, carrying them on benches mounted on the outside.
Super - The radio code name for the Blackhawks in the battle. The helicopters were called Super 61, Super 62, Super 64, Super 68, etc.
Super 61 - The radio code name for the Blackhawk helicopter piloted by Chief Warrant Officer Cliff Wolcott.
Super 64 - The radio code name for the Blackhawk helicopter piloted by Chief Warrant Officer Mike Durant.
Super 62 - The Blackhawk piloted by CWO Mike Goffena.
Target Building - The three-story house on Hawlwadig Road one block north of the Olympic Hotel where a group of Aidid clansmen were meeting the afternoon of Oct. 3, 1993. It was stormed by Delta commandos and 24 Somalis were taken prisoner.
Task Force Ranger - The 450-man force deployed to Mogadishu in late August 1993, commanded by Maj. Gen. William F. Garrison and made up primarily of Delta Force Squadron C from Fort Bragg, N.C., Bravo Company of the 75th Ranger Regiment from Fort Benning, Ga., and the helicopter unit called ''Nightstalkers,'' the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment from Fort Campbell, Ky.
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7/31/2006, 9:42 pm
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