Black Hawk Down

From Airsoft Community Wiki

Black Hawk Down is a 2001 film by Ridley Scott, based on the book Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War by Mark Bowden. It depicts the Battle of Mogadishu, which was part of the U.S. military's 1993 campaign to capture Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. The movie stars Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Eric Bana and Tom Sizemore. It won awards for Film Editing and Sound at the 75th Academy Awards in 2002. It's popular amongst airsofters as it provides a good story line for themed games (such as Lightfighter Urban Airsoft who run the game annually) and is a good basis for themed loadouts.

IMDB entry for Black Hawk Down

In the actual conflict 'the Battle of the Black Sea', as it was named, US forces moved into the heart of Mogadishu to capture a number of Aidid's lieutenants. The operation went south when the US lost the initiative as one of their Black Hawk helicopters (Super Six 1) was shot down by Somali RPG fire (using a technique taught to the afghans by the americans to take down Russian helos in the Afhgan war) As the crew on the ground were re-tasked to rescue the crew, a second Black Hawk was shot down (Super Six 4). There were no reinforcements immediately available, and two Delta snipers, Randy Shughart and Garry Gordon, gave their lives defending the injured pilot, Michael Durant. Durant was held hostage, and later released. The two Delta snipers recived the Medal of Honour posthumously for their bravery. In the battle, 18 American soldiers died,and nearly 1000 Somalis were killed. The US failed to capture Aidid, and pulled out six weeks later.

Recently (December 2006) Somalia has once again decended into lawlessness and fighting.