Rating: 
Summary: Black Hawk Down
Review: An exciting and fast-paced read. I could bearly put it down. But I had to get sleep at some point. I read the book in three days. And I have two clinics to run! But this real-life story was too engrossing to put down.A patient of mine told me about this book in mid-Oct 2001. I was intrigued since my only recollection of Somalia was that the USA went to help deliver food and the "ungrateful" Somalians dragged a dead American soldier through their streets. This book brought the whole affair into better detail. I thought the author did an excellent job of telling the story of the incident from so many different points of view. It is rear to read what the "enemy" was thinking and doing. But Mr. Bowden travelled to Africa to get the story from those Somalians who were involved in the fight. I've have been telling everyone I can to read this book. So that some day we can thank those soldiers who fought for this country in Somalia.
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Summary: American Heroes - Wasted in Futility
Review: Black Hawk Down By Mark Bowden Read this book! The book is about the disaster that befell American soldiers in Mogadishu, Somalia on October 3, 1993. A repeat of everything that is wrong with the UN, police actions, nation-building and using American soldiers as fodder. It was to this reader a 'synecdoche' for the entire Viet Nam War - another example of fighting without objective and having the high tech, heavyweight warriors being chased out by pajama wearing, 90 pound, under nourished, low tech Somalians as the stand-in for the Viet Cong. When the bodies piled up, the brass would have swept it under the rug until CNN showed a US pilot getting dragged through the streets. Then the orgy of finger pointing began and culminated with someone's head on a stick - Les Aspin's, the Secretary of Defense. Those that fail to learn from the mistakes of the past are condemned to repeat them. Even though sad in perspective, I give it four and a half stars for an utterly fascinating read, one of the best combat diaries, equipped with the letters from the girlfriend and the guy who made everybody laugh, dying first. This is a war story to end all war stories: an urban battle, a jihad, a street fight, a massive helicopter assault, a rescue operation, and even 2 Congressional Medal of Honor winners, awarded sadly enough, posthumously. Bowden pulls from his arsenal every human emotional weapon to shoot at the reader; hate, love, revenge, joy, dread, horror and sadness. The story depicts the futility of war - the senselessness of it, and the complete absence of God. Readers as voyeurs, from the safety of their homes, watch men in combat revert to their primordial selves and fight to survive with pure bestial fury. War is frightening. Bowden makes one feel the loss of comrades and countrymen and their innocent beliefs. He reports the awe and horror that Americans felt as they watched civilian Somalian men, women and children run into to the streets into a hail of bullets to shoot at our soldiers! We were supposedly there to help them, to feed their starving. Then we learn that the Somalians were told the Americans would force them to become Christians - creating jihad! What tragedy the world has wrought! The waste of it all, the foolishness of it all! Bowden wove the facts like a novel and did our Delta Force and Rangers a great service by telling their heroic story. None braver, and an eye opener for every fat and soft American, lying on their couch in front of their big screen TV, comfortable with the knowledge but also afraid, of the kind of man it takes to defend the borders or climb into the caves of Afghanistan, willing to die while defending us. The book could very well be a nightmare precursor for US troops awaiting a similar fate in Afghanistan. The whole book is a 15 hour battle detailing America's attempt to storm a building in the "Mog" to capture Mohammed Farrah Aidid, a Somali warlord and/or his henchmen. The one hour operation turned from a lightning raid to a long drawn out perilous thunderstorm as every Somalian, and we mean every Somalian, that could shoot a gun, ran into the streets and did so. Some of the "skinnies" as the Somalians were called, had RPG's, rocket propelled grenades that brought down two Black Hawk helicopters. The Americans captured Aidid's henchmen but saw the battle plan fall to pieces as their treasured Black Hawks fell from the sky. It then became an endurance tale as 100 American soldiers, bleeding, dying, without water and ammunition and a fading hope of reinforcements, held out against a force of thousands of armed and courageous Somalians in the midst of their crumbling city. The Americans waited for humvees and armored personnel carriers to muster and try to reach them as the Somalians started huge tire fires in the streets and shot at everything that moved. Bowden painstakingly put every minute of the 15 hour mayhem into chronological order and then described in molecular detail every sucking chest wound, RPG blast, TOW missile strike, blood soaked pant leg, mini-gun barrage, genital mutilation and cry of dread uttered by US soldiers. The reader, heart racing, becomes as helpless as the trapped Rangers waiting for a rescue team that has lost its way. Bowden brings our the bright red of war wounds as the reader cringes with sorrow and guilt. He even traveled to the Mog in 1997 and interviewed the Somalians who fought in the battle - which brought fresh insight to the book and more senselessness to the entire UN operation. Mike Durant, helicopter pilot, is pulled from the crash and saved from an angry mob by a Somalian who sees a good price. He is brought to safety as a bargaining chip by Aidid's people. Clinton cuts a deal, and we run. Our dead heroes - fought for absolutely nothing - Vietnam all over again
Rating: 
Summary: Bad Intelligence....
Review: Like virtually everyone else, I found this to be an extraordinary book. In many places, I had to remind myself to breathe. But the question I constantly asked was: what are we paying the CIA, NSA, DIA, etc., for? That's the most troubling aspect of the entire operation. How did these Rangers & Special Ops guys get such poor intelligence about what the situation was really like, on the ground? And how, with apparently constant aerial oversight, were they consistently mis-directed in an almost "Keystone Cops"-like parade through the streets of Mogadishu, under withering fire and an endless barrage of RPGs? My biggest fear is that this same scenario is playing out in some dusty corner of Afghanistan, as you read this, and we'll only find out about it three years from now, after some tenacious newspaper reporter finds and follows a thread....
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Summary: I Could Not Finish This Book Fast Enough!
Review: This is a gripping read! Mark Bowden provides us with a detailed account of the 1993 horrific operation in Mogadishu that resulted in American soldiers dead and wounded. Before reading this book, the only memory or information I had about the event were the images of two American soldiers being dragged through the streets by the Somalians -- courtesy of CNN. I read this book at the suggestion of my husband -- and only because he kept after me to do so. I am so glad that I did! This is a story about bravery, honor, and camaraderie. All of which are borne out of utter chaos. Everything that can go wrong during this operation does: two Black Hawk helicopters go down, people are dying, soldiers are going in the wrong direction, and supplies are scarce. The information about the Army Rangers and D-Boys is mind boggling. The next time I hear that our "elite forces" will be sent into battle, I will be hard pressed to forget that though highly skilled and trained, they are probably not much older that nineteen, twenty, or twenty one. This book made me a nervous wreck while reading it -- you literally feel everyone's panic. I was constantly scrambling to find the diagrams and sort out where the various convoys and soldiers were located. I found I could not read it fast enough and was grateful for the snappy and easy to follow dialogue. Well done Mark Bowden!!
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Summary: The best book I've read in years!
Review: Awesome story. Bowdens writing of the story put me right there in the action. I thought about it for days after reading the book. One of the few books that I've read nearly straight through and couldn't put down. It gave me a new appreciation of our military. Everyone should read this book.
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Summary: As close to combat as you will ever get ...
Review: The author has no military background. That is his advantage. That is his talent. He is able to write about what it is like to be in combat without seeing through the military-trained mind. A superb novel of real-men in a modern-type war. Thank you, Mark. You have prepared future warriors for their war.
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Summary: Gripping Real Life Thriller
Review: I also read this book shortly before the recent terrorist attacks. Mark Bowden goes into extraordinarily and painful detail in describing the activities of 1993 in which just over 100 Army Rangers and Delta force soldiers made a daring day-light raid on the city of Mogadishu, and a bustling market-place, and captured key lieutenants of the Somali warlord. Bowden rightfully tributes the last moments of over a dozen DIA and many casualties. The book reads like a minute-by-minute action feature, and is almost impossible to put down. Given the capabilities of these special-ops soldiers, I feel a lot more confident in our on-going efforts in Afghanistan. I'm sure the Delta forces are working as we speak. Many have deemed the Somalia effort a failure, but if you read this book, you will be convinced that the soldiers of this battle accomplished their objective and achieved victory despite overwhelming obstacles.
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Summary: Tremendous
Review: A true story about modern war This book is so great I want to read it again! Without saying so much, I really am intrigued about the plot in this first-rate book!
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Summary: 21st Century Ground Warfare -- An Instant Military Classic
Review: Mark Bowden's Battle of Mogadishu narrative is as incisive and entertaining a military novel ever written. "Black Hawk Down" is the non-fiction account of the U.S. military's protracted ground encounter with Somali soldiers and citizens on October 3, 1993 and is based largely on extensive interviews with participants on both sides as well as a thorough literature and document review (to include available radio transmissions). This 400+ page, detailed account runs systematically and (reads) rapidly through the events of the afternoon of October 3rd and on through the evening's neverending firefight into the next morning. Bowden begins with the daring daylight raid and abduction of two top-ranking officials of Somali warlord Mohamed Aided in the midst of Sunday's busy Mogadishu market. Planned as a sixty-minute helicopter drop, grab and return-to-base, this mission (through various misfortunes and unforseen events) quickly goes sour and Bowden takes the reader right into the action--inside the minds of those on the ground (and those in the helicopters above the city). The pace quickens as first one, then another Black Hawk is shot from the sky by RPG-slinging Somalis. Bowden manages to carefully detail the soldiers' moves and thoughts as they attempt to rescue their downed compatriots, extract their killed and wounded, and complete the mission. In spite of the detail and the multiple points of view (the narration is told from the perspective of many of the participants (to include an occasional glimpse into the Somali viewpoint)), the story moves at breakneck speed to its inevitable, somewhat remarkable conclusion and the end of U.S. involvement in Somalia. This story is an emotional, insightful, occasionally graphic (gory), honest, and ultimately thought-provoking tribute to the brave soldiers who fought in this battle. Mark Bowden's "Black Hawk Down" reads like an enthralling combination of the best war fiction (for example, Michael Shaara's "Killer Angels") with the greatest military memoirs (e.g., U.S. Grant's "Personal Memoirs"). "Black Hawk Down" is engaging from start to finish and is one of the most intense books of any genre I have ever read. Very Highly Recommended.
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Summary: I read it twice!
Review: I read this book about 2 years ago when it first came out and decided to read it again in light of what is going on in Afghanistan. I enjoyed it very much both times. It is the true story of the attempt by U.S special forces to capture some "bad guys" in Somalia in 1993, but it reads like a fast paced novel. As soon as the Rangers and D-boys hit the ground, they are met by far more resistance than they anticipated, and things go wrong right away. Bowden quickly puts you right there in the midst of the fighting and chaos, and you will have a hard time putting this book down. Be forewarned, some of the descriptions of the injuries and deaths are very graphic. Although the main thrust of the book is the ongoing battle, I was also intrigued by the depiction of Delta Force. These guys are amazing; the elite of the U.S. military, living by their own rules. They look down their noses at the Rangers, yet every 1 of the Rangers wants to become a D-boy. Bowden does a good job of showing the friction betwen the "operators" and every one else. Another fascinating side show is the mind set of the Somalis. Several times Somali citizens are described as curiously wandering into the middle of the fighting as though trying to get a better view of a car wreck. Or rushing into the middle of the street in an attempt to retrieve a weapon from another Somali, who just seconds before had been riddled with bullets and killed. Did they think they were invisible, invincible, or didn't they care if they lived or died? Overall, a very entertaining book!!!!
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