200 Pages and Still Going

When Durant's Super Six Four got hit he thought all most nothing of it. The big Black Hawk was built for battle. The bird had been hit in the tail, right where the oil for the tail rotor was stored. Mike Goffeena saw the whole thing go down. Durant found that he could still fly the helicopter and set off toward the Task Force base. For about a mile Goffeena trailed behind him just to make sure that Super Six Four could make the distance back to base. Satisfied, Goffeena started to turn around and head back. Just as that happened, however, there was a large explosion on the tail boom. The tail rotor had disintegrated. Super Six Four began an uncontrollable spin down to the earth. Once word got out the Durant Six Four had gone down the three hummvees that carried Blackburn to base set out for the crash.

Goffeena was now circling above his crashed friend. He had three Delta snipers in the back of his chopper. As the Somalian militia made their way towards the crash, the Delta snipers said they would be more effective fighting from the ground and requested they be set down. This request was denied on the basis that no one knew if there were any survivors. It was just then that Goffeena saw his friends, Mike Durant and Ray Frank, moving on the ground and beginning to return fire with their sub-machine guns.

During this all the convoy was still lost. An air force controller decided to take things into his own hands. He bypassed the C2 helicopter and started talking to the Orion spy plane above them. No one in the convoy knew a second bird had gone down but, the spy plane had. The radio operators on the Orion saw that the situation at the second site was dire and started giving directions to the convoy to head there. Upon, realizing this the convoy demanded directions to the first site.

The famed 150 page update

Black Hawk Super Six One just got shot down. As soon as the bird hit the deck hundreds of heavily armed Somalian militiamen started off towards the crash site. Upon impact both the pilot, Cliff Elvis Wolcott, and co-pilot, Donavon Briley, were killed instantly. Soon, the aircraft settled, one the Delta operatives crawled out to defend the crash site. While the survivors were busy defending themselves half of DiTamosso's chalk moved to the helicopter on foot. Eventually a Little Bird helicopter landed next to the crash and evacuated some of the wounded. The rest of the assault force gets on Humvees to head to the crash. Thus begins the story of the lost convoy.

As soon as the soldiers finish loading the convoy with prisoners the Black Hawk gets hit. The convoy, led by Lt. Col. Danny McNight, starts moving to the crash site. There is a problem though, the convoy is taking extremely heavy enemy fire and there is a delay in the directions from the Orion spy plane to JOC (Joint Operations Command) to Lt. Harrel who is telling McKnight where to go. So, due to this problem the convoy gets lost. In a mission that was supposed to take 30 minutes, they are now almost two hours in.

During the convoys attempt to reach the crash, over half of the troops are wounded and several killed. Then, the mission takes another turn for the worse. Black Hawk helicopter Super Six Four, piloted by Michael Durant is hit with a RPG and goes down.

Black Hawk Down- 100 page update

Well, here we go again. Now I am at page 100 in the book Black Hawk Down. This book, which is much better than the movie, covers the individual soldiers and their stories. It is a pretty easy read but, due to the individual stories, it will be harder to write about. So, the Rangers had just roped in. At the very beginning the troops could tell that there was much more shooting than there had been in any previous missions.
The book brings us through each Chalk's story as we read. From Nelson shooting a Somali for the first time to the small convoy of Humvees on their way back to base to bring the wounded Blackburn to safety. In this race back to the barracks, Dominick Pilla is shot and killed. He is the first casualty of the operation and not the last. There are also flashbacks of life at the hanger for soldiers such as Clay Othic who spent most of his time pulling guard duty and writing home.
At Chalk Four's position, Sergeant Galentine got shot. Holding his severed finger in his hand the medic does what he can for such a wound. One of the soldiers, Diemer, soon taps Sergeant Eversmann on the back. When Eversmann turns around, Diemer tells him one the helicopters gets hit.
Cliff Elvis Wolcott is a pilot with the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. He is one of the famed, highly secret special forces operatives in the U.S. Army, the soldiers are called the "Night Stalkers" due to their prefered enviroments, the darkness. Wolcott is the pilot of Super Six-One, a Black Hawk helicopter circling the target building. Soon the crew feels a bump and before long the aircraft is spinning uncontrably from the hit of an RPG. Everyone is stunned that a bird just got shot down. They were the tip of the spear, they were supposed to be invincible.
That is my update, there will be more to come!

Hannelore's reading history.

Along the years I have read many books, most of which I liked. Currently, I am reading two books. They are Black Hawk Down, by Mark Bowden, and Survive, by Les Stroud. I enjoy reading often and I am quite proud of the library I have been able to build up to now. I have never lost interest in reading, in fact it is quite the opposite. Just recently I have obtained a renewed vigor for reading. My favorite book of all time is Stuka Pilot by the author, Hans Ulrich Rudel. This autobiography details the adventures of the most highly decorated German pilot during the Second World War. Also, another book that left quite an impression on me is Campaign in Russia, the Waffen SS on the Eastern Front. This book, written by a Belgian named Leon Degrelle during WWII, chronicles the war against Russia.

When asked what the worst books I've ever read are, one immediately comes to mind. Five Years, Four Fronts is the most dull, uninteresting story one can imagine. This book, by Georg Grossjohann, was bad enough that I could not finish it. It is the only book that I never finished. I read just about everyday, every chance I get. I enjoy reading and think it is an excellent way to relax after the day is up.

Black Hawk Down

For Honors English, my class has to make a blog on the book we are reading. I chose the book Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden. So far in the book, the author describes the people who participated in the battle. We learn about Rangers such as Matt Eversman and the elite Delta Force operators like Norm Hooten. So far the raid is successful save one exception. One of the youngest Rangers, Todd Blackburn fell and missed the fast rope. Other mistakes were also made. The original target building was raided by Delta and found to be someones house, the building next to it was the intended target. So far that is the basics of the book, stay tuned for more!
-Hannelore