Well deserved and better late than never.
Very true !
How many dead Somalis and what % likely combatants?
Estimates over of 1000, with 1/3 or more non-combatants killed. That is what happens in an urban insurgency, especially when the Samis not in uniform with guns were hiding behind civilians.
As a former Mech Co. Cdr, I thought about how I would have done it. To rescue our downed aircrews, the decisively engaged RANGERS & DELTA FORCE.
We'd sandbag all our MBTs & PCs. To add extra protection against RPGs, etc.
Would require a rolling barrage along the route to our troops. Lead by M1s with the Dozer Tank in the lead. Main 120mm cannon firing randomly to the front, left & right. To suppress and kill enemy combatants. And rubbling many structures during our advance. To again suppress & kill the enemy. That is part of our mission. Our .50s would chew through many of the buildings, wood or stone/brick …
Gunships flying shot gun, and all my PCs firing at any likely enemy locations and anything that that looks like a threat. E.g. windows, doors, edges of roof tops, etc.
If a threat presents itself, the Gunships would engage & destroy. E.g. Samis with RPGs, etc./fire from roof tops, etc. Kill them before they kill you …
So we'd have FA and/or mortar fires rolling in front of our advance. Lift and shift as we get closer to the friendies' locations. Putting those fires on likely targets behind, etc., of the Sami's. H&I fire if nothing else.
The other UN force would make thunder runs, mounted raids, etc., on the flanks, etc., to keep the Samis busy and attriting some of them.
That is how I believe it should have been done. Once again the elected and appointed leadership in DC/WH did not allow the USA to have enough of our own Armor, etc., and any FA(IIRC), etc. Until after the "Blackhawk down" incident, AFAIK.
Costing us KIA's & WIA's … 18 dead & 76 WIAs … Too many … 1 would be too many, IMO.
My focus as a Co. Cdr would be on getting our people out and taking no losses of my own unit. CD would be very a low consideration. Again an insurgency in an urban environment. Some CD could/would be inevitable.
Probably the Samis, etc. would have clearly suffered more losses over the estimated 1000 +. We'd be destroying structures in Mogadishu, and killing the enemy to assist/support in completing our mission.
If some don't understand how urban warfare/MOUT/COIN and modern mobile combined arms warfare works … goggle it.
is finally getting into Team Yankee.
