It has been more than fifteen years since the words were said in Somalia. “We have a Black Hawk. I repeat. Black Hawk down!” Those were the infamous words that cued Master Sergeant Gary Gordon and Sergeant First Class Randy Shuggart to commit to history their great acts of heroism that hot day in Mogadeshu.

The two were Delta Force operators. They were experts in their fields. When the black hawk helicopter dubbed super sixty-one went down, there seemed to be no hope of rescuing the crew on board the chopper. The two men volunteered willing to fast rope down from their helicopter and attempt to rescue the downed crew. They knew that it would be some time before reinforcements would come, but they did it anyways. The two men fought off hundreds of violent Somalis with only their sniper rilfes. When they ran out of ammunition, they could only try to hold back the mob with combat knives. They gave their lives to save others, and their acts on that day reserved their places in history.