Somalia

Somalia is a small country located in Eastern Africa, bordering the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, East of Ethiopia. In 1993 the people of this country were starving with no way of feeding themselves and no formal government. There were two major clans who were stealing food meant for the hungry and selling it on the black market, causing the people of Somalia to go hungry. The word Somalia is important to me because we entered this country in an effort to feed the hungry, help the sick and establish some form of government and failed to accomplish this mission.

When we entered Somalia to help the sick, feed the hungry and establish a government, we did not intend for this to turn into the 3-year bloodbath that it did. I joined the Marines to defend my country, not to watch young men die needlessly because our government can not keep it's nose out of every ones business. Using America's sons to do it. Somalia was a place that our soldiers should never have been. You can't send combat troops on a peacekeeping mission. I'm sorry but through history we have seen that it never works. This is one operation that I was involved in while part of a Special Operations Unit and the Army's 82nd Airborne.

Christopher Wilson

This operation was designated Operation Restore Hope by the UN. Interference from to rival clans, one led by warlord Mohammed Farrah Aidid and the other led by Aden Abdulrahman Mohammed, turned this peacekeeping mission into bloody disaster that would waste the lives of many people on both sides. On October 3rd 1993 at 8:00 am in an effort to unseat Aidid the US military sent 100 US Army Rangers, by air and land, to a hotel where Aidid was having a meeting with his sub-clan leaders. The plan was take the man into custody and extradite him to the US for trial. Aidid got word of this from his spies and laid a trap for the soldiers. Aidid's men were able to shoot down two helicopters before the soldiers were able to enter the building, which caused one of the bloodiest battles of the 2-year operation. For 6 hours the Rangers had to fight their way through the streets of Mogadishu to rescue the downed pilots and crewmen. Once they reached the pilots they realized that one was dead and another had been captured and dragged through the streets. With fierce fighting going on all around them, the remaining 75 Rangers held up in an abandoned house and called for help over the radio. By midnight that night 25 more soldiers had been either killed or wounded and the medical personnel were quickly running out of supplies and water. With fighting going on all around and no exact location of the Rangers, the US would not be able to mount another rescue operation until sunrise. By morning 75 of the 100 Rangers were either killed or wounded. In a last ditch effort the Rangers decided to leave the house and make a run for it. They were able to

Christopher Wilson

make it 8 miles to safety in a football stadium, where UN forces picked them up. Out of the 100 Rangers on the raid 2 of the men received the Congressional Medal of Honor, both posthumously. This massacre could have been prevented.

One week before this operation was to take place, the Central Intelligence Agency had already talked to Aidid and were in the process of establishing a peace treaty with him. However, no one informed the Department of Defense of this. This simple little gap in communication on the CIA's part was the cause for one of the worst disasters since the Beirut bombing in 1982 that killed 200 Marines and Sailors.

On February 28, 1995 at 10:30 am the last of the UN ships under escort by US warships left Somali loaded with 1500 Pakistani and Bangladeshi peacekeepers. This was the last of the remaining UN contingent that failed to establish a government in Somalia. With the peacekeepers gone, the countries warring clans fought over the air and seaports, while the people were left fending for themselves. General Zinni (USMC), Commanding General UNOSOM (United Nations Operations Somalia) is quoted "They're on their own".

This is just one of many examples of the government wasting our lives for no reason but to further some politicians career and put money in their own pocket. I had a lot of friends that died over there and it could have been avoided. That one word has so much meaning to me. The word Somalia brings back many memories, faces, sights and sounds.