During the Battle of Mogadishu (3-4 October 1993), Task Force Ranger was going after the lieutenants of the Somalian warlord Mohammed Farah Aideed. As the ground force was egressing, an MH-60 Black Hawk helicopter was shot down. This was the spark for a fierce battle that raged for almost a day.

By the end of the battle, the Task Force had a total of 17 killed in action and 106 wounded. The Somali death toll is estimated between the upper hundreds and low thousands. Two Delta Force operators, Master Sergeant Gary Gordon and Sergeant 1st Class Randall Shughart, were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for defending the crew of one of the downed Black Hawk helicopters.

Task Force RANGER was comprised of C Squadron, Delta Force, Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Night Stalkers from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (160th SOAR), Combat Controllers (CCT) and Pararescuemen (PJ) from the 24th Special Tactics Squadron, and a small sniper element from SEAL Team 6.

1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (Delta Force)

  • MSG Gary Gordon
  • MSG Timothy Martin
  • SFC Randall Shughart
  • SFC Earl Filmore
  • SSG Daniel Busch

160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Night Stalkers) 

  • CW4 Raymond Frank
  • CW3 Clifton Wolcott
  • CW2 Donovan Briley
  • SSG Thomas Field
  • SSG William Cleveland, Jr.

3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment

  • SGT Lorenzo Ruiz
  • SGT Dominick Pilla
  • SGT Casey Joyce
  • SPC James Cavaco
  • CPL Jamie Smith
  • PFC Richard Kowalewski

10th Mountain Division

  • SGT Cornell Houston
  • PFC James Martin Jr.