Task Force Ranger
On August 8, 1993, Aidid's militia detonated a remote controlled bomb against a U.S. military vehicle, killing four soldiers. Two weeks later, another bomb injured seven more. In response, President Clinton approved the proposal to deploy a special task force, composed of 400 U.S. Army Rangers and Delta Force commandos. This unit, named Task Force Ranger, consisted of 160 elite U.S. troops. They flew to Mogadishu and began a manhunt for Aidid.
On August 22, the force was deployed to Somalia under the command of Major General William F. Garrison, JSOC's commander at the time.
The force consisted of:
- B Company, 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment
- C Squadron, 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (1st SFOD-D)
- A deployment package of 16 helicopters and personnel from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (160th SOAR), which included MH-60 Black Hawks and AH/MH-6 Little Birds.
- Navy SEALs from the Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU)
- Air Force Pararescuemen and Combat Controllers from the 24th Special Tactics Squadron.
Read more about this topic: Operation Gothic Serpent
Famous quotes containing the words task and/or force:
“The task of the artist at any time is uncompromisingly simple—to discover what has not yet been done, and to do it.”
—Craig Raine (b. 1944)
“He saw, he wish’d, and to the prize aspir’d.
Resolv’d to win, he meditates the way,
By force to ravish, or by fraud betray;
For when success a lover’s toil attends,
Few ask, if fraud or force attain’d his ends.”
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744)