Our Fallen Heroes: Bob Horrigan

Born in Limestone, Maine on January 13th of 1965, Bob joined the Army in May of 1984 at the age of nineteen along with his identical twin brother John. The brothers enlisted as infantrymen and together attended and graduated from the Ranger Indoctrination Program and were subsequently both assigned to the newly reactivated 3rd Ranger Battalion in Fort Benning, GA. After three years with the Regiment, both brothers left the Army. But Bob, whose call of duty still lingered, re-enlisted in the Army and was assigned to the 5th Ranger Training Battalion as a team leader and Ranger Instructor. After three years with RTB, Bob volunteered for the Special Forces. Graduating from the 18B (Weapons Sergeant) course. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group out of Fort Bragg, NC. I’m not sure what year Bob made it into Delta Force but it must have been 2000 at the latest.

In the book The Mission, The Men, and Me by former Delta Squadron Commander Pete Blaber; Bob is mentioned extensively as a key member during Operation Anaconda as part of Blaber’s AFO (Advanced Force Operations) task force. At the time of Anaconda (March 2002), Bob was already a seasoned member of Delta’s Reconnaissance (“Recce”) troop – a position in Delta where the more experienced assaulters go. In one section of the book, Blaber wrote this about Bob:

“At 10,500 feet, India’s team of three stopped just short of the edge of the cliff. All three India team members laid down flat to avoid being silhouetted from below. After unshouldering his ruck, Bob H. scootched forward on his belly. He stopped behind a small pile of rubble. Canting his head slowly, he spied the valley below. His eyes and ears strained to detect any unnatural noise or movement; Bob was focused, like a man whose finely tuned autonomic nervous system is programmed to maintain perfect equilibrium between the thrill of the hunt and the thrill of the chase. Bob understood his status as both the hunter and the hunted. He liked it that way. If you could have peered back through his thermal scope, you would have seen an unmistakable gleam in his eyes – it was the gleam of pure, unadulterated courage. Courage has been called a contradiction in terms, meaning a strong desire to live manifest as a readiness to die. It described Bob and his mates to a tee.”

Bob, at the age of 40, was killed in action on June 17th, 2005 in Al Qaim, Iraq alongside his friend and fellow operator MSG Michael McNulty. He served honorably for 19 and a half years, and was two weeks away from returning home to start his retirement process. He was on his fifth and last combat deployment since 9/11.