Originally Posted by
Steepclimb
Maybe, I went to Oshkosh 2016. I met the Blackhawk pilot who was captured in Somalia, whose name escapes me. He told us of his experiences. Being Oshkosh you could talk to him directly and I did. I told him how I believed he was a dead man when I saw him on TV. And my relief when he was released. It was quite emotional for me.
I'm not American and no fan of the current regime. I should point out I am a pilot so obviously I favour pilots.
Watching a pilot humiliated is not for me.
CW4 Mike Durant was the Super 6-4 pilot, the copilot was CW4 Ray Frank the co-pilot, and crew chiefs SSG Tommy Field and SSG Bill Cleveland. Mike was the only survivor of the impact. Gary Gordon and Randy Shugart were the delta operators that dropped in with Super 6-2 (which was also hit by an RPG shortly afterwards) to secure the wreck and the survivor. Sadly a well deserved MoH to both in a peace keeping operation.
Super 6-1 was commanded by
CW3 Cliff "Elvis" Wolcott and CW3 Donovan "Bull" Briley as co-pilot, both killed on the impact. SSG Daniel Busch and SGT Jim Smith were the snipers on board, and survived the crash, defending their own aircraft, Smith wrote the eye witness statement of Daniel Busch's silver star awarded posthumously, Busch succumbing to multiple gunshot wounds received in the defence of the aircraft and the survivors.
CMOHS Randy Shugart
CMOS Gary Gordon
VA narrative Daniel Busch