Editing Black Hawk Down (film) (section)

==Plot==
In 1992 a [[1992 famine in Somalia|famine in southern Somalia]] induced by the [[Somali Civil War|civil war]] leads the United Nations Security Council to authorize a military operation with a peacekeeping mandate. Conflict ensues between [[United Nations Operation in Somalia II|UNOSOM II]] and the [[Somali National Alliance|Mogadishu-based militia]] loyal to [[Mohamed Farrah Aidid]]. In response, U.S. President [[Bill Clinton|Clinton]] deploys [[Operation Gothic Serpent|Task Force Ranger]]—consisting of [[3rd Ranger Battalion|3rd Battalion]]/[[75th Ranger Regiment]], [[Delta Force]] operators, and flight crew of the [[160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne)|160th SOAR]]—to Mogadishu to capture Aidid, who has proclaimed himself president. Aidid's militia attacks a [[Red Cross]] food distribution shipment and steals the aid, but the Rangers are unable to respond due to the rules of engagement.

Outside Mogadishu, Rangers and Delta Force capture [[Osman Atto|Osman Ali Atto]], a faction leader selling arms to Aidid's militia. The U.S. plans a mission to capture Omar Salad Elmi and Abdi Hassan Awale Qeybdiid, two of Aidid's top advisers.

Prior to the mission, [[Staff Sergeant#US Army|Staff Sergeant]] Matthew Eversmann receives his first command of Ranger [[Chalk (military)|Chalk]] Four after his lieutenant has a seizure. Members of his chalk include fresh 18-year-old [[Private First Class#United States Army|Private First Class]] Todd Blackburn and [[Specialist (rank)#United States|Specialist]] John Grimes, a former desk clerk.

Delta Force operators capture Aidid's advisers inside the target building while the Rangers and helicopters escorting the ground convoy take heavy fire from the rallying militia. Blackburn is severely injured when he falls from one of the [[Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk|Black Hawk]] helicopters, so three Humvees led by [[Staff Sergeant#United States|Staff Sergeant]] [[Jeff Struecker]] are detached from the convoy to return Blackburn to the UN-held [[Mogadishu Airport]]. Grimes is separated from Eversmann's chalk after surviving an RPG explosion.

Just after Struecker's column departs, Black Hawk ''Super Six-One'', piloted by [[Warrant Officer (United States)|Chief Warrant Officer]] Clifton "Elvis" Wolcott, is shot down by a [[rocket-propelled grenade]]. Wolcott and his co-pilot are killed, two crew chiefs are wounded, and two Delta Force snipers on board escape in an [[MH-6 Little Bird]] helicopter.

The ground forces are rerouted to converge on the crash site. The militia erects roadblocks preventing [[Lieutenant Colonel (United States)|Lieutenant Colonel]] Danny McKnight's Humvee column from reaching the area, and inflicts heavy casualties. Meanwhile, two Ranger chalks, including Eversmann's unit, reach the crash site and set up a defensive perimeter, while another helicopter, ''Super Six-Four'' piloted by Chief Warrant Officer [[Michael Durant]], is also shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade and crashes several blocks away.

With the primary Ranger forces led by [[Captain (United States O-3)|Captain]] [[Michael D. Steele|Mike Steele]] pinned down and sustaining heavy casualties, no ground forces can reach ''Super Six-Four'' or reinforce the Rangers defending ''Super Six-One''. Two Delta Force snipers, [[Sergeant First Class#United States|Sergeant First Class]] [[Randy Shughart]] and [[Master Sergeant#United States|Master Sergeant]] [[Gary Gordon]], volunteer to be inserted by helicopter to secure ''Super Six-Four''{{'}}s crash site, where they find Durant still alive. Despite their heroic actions the site is overrun, Gordon and Shughart are killed, and Durant is captured.

McKnight's column relinquishes their attempt to reach ''Six-One''{{'}}s crash site and returns to base with the prisoners and their casualties. The men prepare to go back to extract the Rangers and fallen pilots, and Major General Garrison asks for reinforcements from the [[10th Mountain Division (United States)|10th Mountain Division]], including [[MALBATT|Malaysian troops]] and [[Frontier Force Regiment#Operations|Pakistani armored units]] from the U.N. coalition.

As night falls, Aidid's militia launches a sustained assault on the trapped Americans at ''Super Six-One''{{'}}s crash site. The militants are held off throughout the night by strafing runs and rocket attacks from [[MD Helicopters MH-6 Little Bird|AH-6J Little Bird]] helicopter gunships until the 10th Mountain Division's relief column is able to reach the American soldiers. The wounded and casualties are evacuated in the vehicles, but a few Rangers and Delta Force soldiers are [[Mogadishu Mile|forced to run on foot]] from the crash site to reach the Safe Zone at [[Mogadishu Stadium]].

A textual epilogue reveals Durant was released following 11 days of captivity; Gordon and Shugart became the first soldiers to receive [[Medal of Honor|the Medal of Honor]] posthumously since the [[Vietnam War]], and General Garrison took full responsibility for the mission's outcome, retiring the day after Aidid was killed in August 1996.