News-Info-Alerts

Re: In the Company of Heroes: Mike Durant

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: April 24, 2003

"In the Company of Heroes: POW Mike Durant's Story

What ever happened to the guy who was shot down and held captive by "hostile forces" in the movie Blackhawk Down?

He survived and lived to tell his story in a soon-to-be released book, titled, In the Company of Heroes, published by G.P. Putnam's Sons. Chief Warrant Officer 4 (Retired) Durant, in an interview with Steven Hartov recounts the "details" of his incredible story in a chilling and forthcoming account of strength and fortitude.

Michael J. Durant, CW4 (Retired), US Army was born July 23, 1961 in Berlin, NH. He entered the United States Army in August 1979. Following basic training he attended the Defense Language Institute, and was then assigned to the 470th Military Intelligence Group, Fort Clayton, Panama as a Spanish voice intercept operator. He then completed helicopter flight training at Fort Rucker, Alabama.
Upon appointment to Warrant Officer 1 in November 1983, he completed the UH60 Blackhawk Qualification Course and was assigned to the 377th Medical Evacuation Company, Seoul Korea. His next assignment was with the 101st Airborne Aviation Battalion, Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where he performed duties as an instructor pilot.

Michael joined the 106th Special Operations Group on august 1, 1988. Assigned to D company, he performed duties as Flight Lead and Standardization Instructor Pilot. He participated in combat operations Prime Chance (Persian Gulf in 1989), Just Cause (Panama invasion 1989), Desert Storm (Liberation of Kuwait 1991), and Gothic Serpent (Somalia 1993).

On October 3, 1993, while piloting an MH60 Blackhawk in Mogadishu, Somalia, he was shot down and held captive by hostile forces. He was released eleven days later.

Awards include the Distinguished Service Medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross with oak leaf cluster, Bronze Star with Valor device, Purple Heart, Meritorious Service Medal, three Air Medals, one with Valor device, the POW/MIA ribbon, the Army Commendation Medal with three oak leaf clusters and numerous other awards.
Though Durant's record speaks volumes about what kind of serviceman he is, his harrowing story as a POW provides an intimate account of just some of the not so pleasant scenarios military men and women face during combat. In an interview with Steven Hartov, Durant recounts his eleven days spent as a prisoner of war.

Hartov asks what the conditions were like for Durant the morning he left for the mission. Durant replies:

"...These operations are never routine. Although we'd done them several times before, urban air assaults and snatch-and-grabs come with inherent risks. And this one in particular posed a unique set of challenges. For one thing it was daytime. You don't want to go into an area where you're susceptible to enemy threat in the daytime if you don't have to. On top of that, urban fighting itself is a whole other ballgame...we all knew this operation was within acceptable risk levels but we all knew it was going to be a tough one."
Hartov: "As the mission unfolded Super Six-One, one of the Blackhawks...was brought down. Then the Search and Rescue chopper was damaged and forced to break off. You were called to take Super Six-One's place. What was going through your mind at that point?"

Durant: "Well, obviously now this is for real. I think as an aviator you're almost separated from the battle. You see things outside the aircraft that may be a threat but you're in an environment with which you're familiar-the cockpit-so, it feels like there's no threat of immediate physical danger. But when two choppers like yours are shot down, and you're going to take their place, that comfort level is gone and you realize the threat level is real. You're not panicking, but it doesn't get any more intense than that."
Hartov: "You've now been brought down in the middle of Mogadishu by a rocket-propelled grenade. Your back and your right leg are broken, and there's no doubt in your mind the Somalis are going to be coming soon. Then seemingly out of nowhere, Delta Force operators Randy Shugart and Gary gordon appear. What were you thinking?

Durant: "To be honest I didn't realize there were only two of them...When it became apparent they weren't a rescue force I began to wonder what's going on. The initial boost of encouragement continued to wane when Gary went down. Then the Somalis became more aggressive. They threw hand grenades into the crash site and the rate of fire picked up significantly. When Randy fell all the encouraging feelings that came from their arrival disappeared."

Hartov: "So, now you're all alone...and you're experiencing what you describe as the most terrifying minutes of your entire life...what did you think was going to happen?"

Durant: "I was absolutely sure I was going to be overrun by the Somalis and they were going to kill me...you could just tell by the tone and feel of the whole scene that they were pissed off. That is as eloquently as I can put it...and we'd been told what they'd done to a group of Pakistani peacekeepers in a previous situation: they dismembered their bodies and reportedly played soccer with their skulls."

Hartov: "You were beaten and pummeled by the Somalis as you were taken captive. During that scuffle the butt of a rifle supposedly struck you in the face. What really happened and why have you remained silent about it all these years?"
Durant: "When I was in the midst of the chaos I saw an older looking individual, a man, bending over me and holding something down by his side. I couldn't tell what it was when he raised it up because it was haloed against the sun and bright sky. He then swung it down on me like a club. It was very heavy and very soft. It smashed my face, breaking my right eye socket and cheekbone. I realized it was the severed arm of one of my comrades."
"I never talked about the incident because I didn't know if the families knew what happened to the bodies of their loved ones...when I was finally released and saw what everyone had been exposed to on the news-including video of the bodies of our servicemen being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu-I thought everyone must know so there's no point in telling the story again. But I came to realize it was an aspect of the story no one knew and I thought it significant because it shows the type of brutality these people inflicted on us."

Hartov: "...you had no way of knowing what would happen next. What did your training tell you you should be doing?"

Durant: "...the only way to deal with it is a step at a time. If you try to deal with the whole thing in one chunk it'' too overwhelming. Instead you ask yourself, "what do I need to do to survive for one minute." The answer for me was don't antagonize these people more than they already are. When that minute is over, and you get a few minutes into the future, you look at what's changed. You're thinking, "do I do the same thing? Let me get a little further down the road...anyone who's ever spent time in captivity will tell you that's why they check the days off on a calendar. It allows you to say I made it through another day. If you don't look at it that way it'll overwhelm you."

Hartov: "So now you're in the hands of the tribal faction. Tossed in a room in a building, chained up and badly injured. You say you didn't feel remorse or self pity but rather that you felt somewhat stupid and naïve 'like a man who'd blissfully gone through life ignoring the facts of death.' What did you mean by that?"

Durant: "Up to that point I had always operated, as a pilot, under the big sky/little bullet theory. In other words that kind of stuff happens to other people...but when this kind of incredible thing happens to you-when you get shot down in enemy territory-it's a slap in the face; an ultimate dose of reality. I'd been dodging bullets for an awful long time."

Hartov: "What do you think will most surprise readers of this book?"

Durant: "There were a lot of very strange and unique things that happened to me in captivity. This was about as atypical a situation as I can think of when it comes to being a POW. I think this story will help readers understand what it is like being a prisoner of war today. For example media and video exploitation is a major part of what every POW now faces. That became part of the story line during Vietnam and Desert Storm but I don't think there has been written about it from the victim's perspective. And I doubt there are many other prisoners of war who can say they heard their wife or their best friends talking to them on the radio, or friendly forces hovering overhead and broadcasting messages on loudspeakers right outside their door. It was a very unique situation."

"There's another thing that comes out of this story that I hope won't be lost on the reader. It has to do with anti-Muslim feelings that I think have grown in this country since Somalia and particularly since 9/11...I hope this book, in a small way, shows that when you get right down to it-when you look at them on an individual level...they've got good traits and bad traits. When you remove the Aidids, bin Ladens and Husseins...the whole dynamic changes."
At a later point in the interview, Hartov asks Durant about a profound moment experienced during his captivity:

"At one point in your captivity you were listening to a helicopter flying overhead, broadcasting one of your favorite songs, and then the words rang out, 'Mike Durant-we will not leave without you.' What did that do to you?"

Durant: "It still sends a chill up and down my spine. I just got one now thinking about it. With only a couple of exceptions it's one of the few things I still get emotional over from that time. I can't describe it. It was like a voice from heaven. It really was...that voice was a link to the outside. It's very difficult to describe the emotions I felt...at first I couldn't tell what it was. Then I figured out it was the voice of one of my best friends...I knew in the depths of my soul that these guys wouldn't desert me."

Hartov: "When did you first know, for sure, that you were going to be freed?"
Durant: "Not until we went through the gates of the U.N. compound. It's all a mind game. You don't know if the nemy is setting you up for a big let down...then I saw a JAG officer from the joint operations command center and I knew it was for real."

In closing, Durant says that he hopes to "bridge the gap" of the public's perception of the military with his story.

" Readers get a chance to get inside my head...I pulled no punches in describing when I was scared...what my thoughts were...we're normal law-abiding citizens who think serving our nation is a darn good way to make a living. Gary Gordon and Randy Shugart-the two Delta operators who sacrificed themselves in a last ditch attempt to defend my crash site-were awarded the Medal of Honor. It was the first time the medal had been awarded in something like thirty years, and there has not been another one awarded since. That speaks to the title of the book..."

"Ironically enough, in 1994 I attended a ceremony in Gordon's hometown of Lincoln, Maine, to honor his courage and professionalism. In order to prepare for some remarks for my statement, I got the book on the Medal of Honor from the local library...when I got to the back of the book, what I found truly astounded me. There, located in a small pocket, was the library checkout card. Apparently, the book had been checked out only a few times since its publication, and the last reader had taken it home almost twenty years before. The last person to sign out that book was Gary Gordon-then a young teenager-who would give hid life for mine two decades later and earn the nations highest honor."

In the Company of Heroes will be released May 12.

©Grundy County Herald 2003 "