The Last 72 Pages

In another part of the city, away from the fighting, the Mogadishu Volunteer Hospital was overloaded with the wounded and dieing. Already all 500 beds in the hospital were filled and they were having to turn people away. One of doctors, Abdi Mohamed Elmi was exhausted from the constant work. He had assisted in eighteen major surgeries already and would not sleep for the next twenty-four hours. The Volunteer Hospital wasn’t the biggest hospital in the city either. Digfer, the other hospital in the city, was even bigger and was being filled with patients also.

When the convoy hit National Street they took a brief pause. The Rangers and Delta making the run were able to catch up. The ones who had run just piled in and sat on top of each other. At one of the armored vehicles Lt. Perino was getting on the vehicle when he looked up and saw a young private with a look of desperation on his face. Perino gave up his seat and the young private, moved by this gesture, decided to re-enlist at that moment. After that the vehicles took off. Captain Steele had watched the whole thing and as the convoy started moving he called over on the radio that men were being left behind. Unbeknownst to Steele the men had actually boarded another APC.

When the convoy had started to move, the men were anxious to get on one of the last few vehicles. They tried to stop a Malaysian driver and get on. They driver, however, acted as if he didn’t know they were there. It took a Delta operator to level his rifle on the driver in order for him to stop so they could get on.

The convoy lead by the Malaysian forces took everyone to the soccer stadium in the green zone of the city. This was the Pakistani base of operations. It was a scene of horror. The wounded lie all over the place. Finally, the mission was at an end. Captain Steele sat down and relaxed. He wanted someone to confide in about the whole ordeal but there were no others of his rank around him. The others worked to find their friends in the groups of the wounded. Things would never be the same for them. They were no longer the young soldiers ready and looking for combat.

As some of the Rangers loaded on the helicopters to be sent back to base they reflected on the past 48 hours. When aloft over the city, they looked down at what had been their own version of hell just hours before. They were surprised by how small the area they had been fighting in was.
Michael Durant would be released after 11 days of captivity. When Aidid had finally turned him back over into American hands he was relieved. Task Force Ranger was at the airport when he arrived. The force was now over a thousand men strong and ready to go back out again and fight if necessary to rescue him. Upon arrival he learned of the fate of his crew and the two brave Delta Operators that rescued him. Their bodies had been recovered.

Many people here in the U.S. were shocked to here about the situation in the U.S. Citizens were outraged to see the video footage of the dead bodies of American soldiers being dragged through the streets of some far off land called Somalia. Accusations were made against President Clinton and General Garrison for his failure with the operation. Technically though, in the eyes of Garrison and strictly in the military point of view this was a success. All of the mission objectives had been accomplished even though there were major set backs.

All in all, 18 American soldiers lost their lives in the battle and 73 injured in The Battle of the Black Sea. This is not the story of how they failed, it is a story of 99 elite soldiers surrounded by thousands of angry armed Somalis and their fight to survive. This is how they TRIUMUPHED!