Delta Force Sniper Brad Halling Recalls Losing Leg in Battle of Mogadishu

Former Delta Force sniper Brad Halling described the extreme violence of the Battle of Mogadishu in a video from Black Rifle Coffee.

The battle started on Oct. 3, 1993, in Somalia. An American Special Operations task force launched a capture mission against forces loyal to warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. Task Force Ranger had deployed to the country to halt a famine and genocide. The unit included Army Rangers, Delta Force operators, and a small number of Air Force and DEVGRU operators.

A routine snatch-and-grab operation turned into a desperate fight for survival when two helicopters were shot down. The events later inspired the 1999 book Black Hawk Down and the 2001 film of the same name.

Halling served as a Delta Force sniper with Task Force Ranger. He rode on the same helicopter as Medal of Honor recipients Gary Gordon and Randy Shughart, both killed in action. Gordon and Shughart landed at the crash site of a downed helicopter and battled Somali attackers until the end.

Halling lost a leg when his helicopter was struck. In the video, he recounted the chaos: "By the time that bird went down, the comms were total chaos. Everybody's world was in a window this big and it was as bad or worse than the window next to them. I look up and the door gunner, Paul Shannon, gets shot through the hands. The gun goes quiet. I got up. Helped him with his hand. I gave him my CAR-15 and I ended up on the minigun and I never got off the minigun. We could see [Mike] Durant's helicopter. There had been requests made to go in and try and assist them. Gary [Gordon] and Randy [Shughart] went there believing that they were going to be able to recover these guys and get them out. And I believed it. When they left, I didn't have any feeling that that was going to be the last time I saw them. But I will forever remember seeing them leave that aircraft. I can still picture it. I can even tell you Gary was out first and Randy got out after Gary was on the ground. What actually unfortunately happens is the crowds did realize this bird went down, but their cover was our bird. While we were over top of Gary and Randy, we got hit by that RPG. That RPG came up through the floor, went through my leg, and then up into the engine compartment. I still remember the flash being first, the heat that followed, and the immense over pressure in that bird as that round detonated. And I remember the unbelievable violence that airframe started shaking."

American soldiers faced a hostile city as they worked to secure two crash sites and rescue teammates. Rangers and Delta Force operators made split-second choices under fire from bullets and rockets to stay alive.