Editing Randy Shughart (section)

==Military career==
Shughart joined the [[United States Army]] while attending [[Big Spring School District|Big Spring High School]] in Newville, entering upon graduation in 1976. After completing basic training, he successfully completed infantry AIT (advanced individual training), [[Airborne School]], and in 1978 was assigned to the [[2nd Ranger Battalion]], [[75th Ranger Regiment]], at [[Fort Lewis (Washington)|Fort Lewis]], Washington.<ref name="vet tributes">{{Cite web |title=Randall D. Shughart |url=http://www.veterantributes.org/tributedetail.asp?id=210 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091202194538/http://www.veterantributes.org/TributeDetail.asp?ID=210 |archive-date=2 December 2009 |access-date=9 September 2010 |website=Veteran Tributes}}</ref> Several months later, he completed a pre-ranger course (formerly known as SURT, Small Unit Ranger Tactics), was granted a slot to attend [[Ranger School]], graduated, and earned the [[Ranger Tab]]. Shughart left active duty and went into the Army Reserve in June 1980. In December 1983, Shughart returned to active duty and the following year attended [[Special Forces]] training. Shughart was assigned to [[Delta Force]] and was transferred to [[Fort Bragg, North Carolina]] in June 1986. As a Delta Force operator, he advanced to Assistant Team Sergeant.<ref name="vet tributes"/><ref name="Willbanks">{{Cite book |last=Willbanks |first=James H. |title=America's Heroes: Medal of Honor Recipients from the Civil War to Afghanistan |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |year=2011 |isbn=9781598843934 |location=[[Santa Barbara, CA]] |page=307 |author-link=James Willbanks}}</ref>

Shughart was deployed to [[Mogadishu, Somalia]] in 1993 as part of [[Task Force Ranger]]. On October 3, 1993, during an assault mission to apprehend advisors to the Somali warlord [[Mohamed Farrah Aidid]], a [[Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk|Black Hawk]] helicopter with the call sign ''Super Six-One'' was shot down in the city. A [[combat search and rescue]] (CSAR) team was sent in to secure the survivors. Then, a second Black Hawk helicopter, call sign ''Super Six-Four'', was shot down.<ref name=Willbanks/>

Shughart, [[Gary Gordon]], and Sergeant First Class Brad Halling had been providing sniper cover from the air from Black Hawk ''Super Six-Two''. Gordon wanted to be inserted to secure the crash site as hostile Somalis were converging on the area.<ref name=Willbanks/>

Mission commanders denied Gordon's request twice,<ref name=DeLong/> saying that the situation was too dangerous for the snipers to protect the crew from the ground.{{sfn|Bowden|1999|p=148}} Command's position was that the snipers could be of more assistance by providing air cover. Gordon, however, repeated his request until he got permission. Halling stayed behind to man a door gun as one of the helicopter's gunners had been wounded.{{sfn|Bowden|1999|p=148}}

Armed with their sniper rifles and sidearms, Shughart and Gordon were inserted approximately {{convert|100|m}} from the crash site and made their way to the downed Black Hawk. Chief Warrant Officer [[Mike Durant]] was already defending the aircraft with an [[MP5]] but was unable to move from his seat due to injuries sustained in the crash. When they reached ''Super Six-Four'', they extracted Durant and the other crew from the helicopter and defended the aircraft.<ref name=Willbanks/> It is believed that Gordon was the first of the two to be killed by the surrounding mob. Shughart retrieved Gordon's [[CAR-15]] rifle and gave it to Durant to use. Shortly after, Shughart was killed, the site was overrun and Durant was taken hostage.<ref name=DeLong/> According to Durant's book ''In the Company of Heroes'', the Somalis counted 25 of their militia dead after the firefight.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Durant |first1=Michael J. |title=In The Company of Heroes: A True Story |title-link=In the Company of Heroes |last2=Hartov |first2=Steve |publisher=[[G. P. Putnam's Sons]] |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-399-15060-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/incompanyofheroe00dura/page/39 39] |author-link=Michael Durant}}</ref>

There was some confusion in the aftermath of the action as to who had been killed first. The official citation states that Shughart had been killed first but [[Mark Bowden]], author of ''[[Black Hawk Down (book)|Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War]]'', relates an account by Sergeant [[Paul R. Howe|Paul Howe]] who heard Shughart call for help on the radio and noted that the weapon handed to Durant was not the distinctive [[M14 rifle]] that Shughart used. Howe said that Gordon would not have given his weapon to someone while he could still fight. Durant acknowledged that he might have been wrong in his identification but was reluctant to push for the record to be changed since he was not sure.{{sfn|Bowden|1999|p=[https://archive.org/details/blackhawkdownsto00bowd_1/page/374 374]}} Shughart's body was eventually recovered and is buried in Westminster Cemetery, [[Carlisle, Pennsylvania]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=House of Representatives [[United States House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel|Subcommittee on Military Personnel]] of the [[United States House Committee on Armed Services|Committee on National Security]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rc1GAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA1 |title=United States Government Knowledge and Accountability for U.S. POW/MIA's (Hearing) |last2=One Hundred Fourth Congress |last3=First session |date=14 November 1995 |publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|US Government Publishing Office]] |isbn=9780160529085 |volume=4 |page=1| author2-link=104th United States Congress }}</ref>