I was the pilot in command of super 64
which is one of the Blackhawks and I was
actually leading an element of aircraft
and and that means my responsibility is
to fly in this case four aircraft into
the target area and put troops on the
ground
you know the mission itself was to
capture a warlord and some of his senior
people we’d been doing that for a couple
of months when the Black Hawk Down
mission occurred on October 3rd you know
there wasn’t a person involved in that
mission who didn’t put their life on the
line that day for someone or to support
the mission and I think that’s a real
important message you know we get caught
up in a lot of other things but that
selflessness and that commitment to each
other and that commitment to the mission
I think is a is at the core of the story
the manifestation of it for me is Randy
Shughart and Gary Gordon the Medal of
Honor recipients who came to our crash
site they insisted that they be dropped
off and they were and that’s why I’m
here today I went to survival school and
in survival school they go without
eating for three days and they slap you
around a little bit and then for me
having experienced it for real in the
real world’s not even close in my mind I
died when we crashed I was knocked
unconscious and I think psychologically
that was the end for me it was a violent
crash it was you know you could argue
not survivable by looking at it so you
sort of have this rebirth where now you
have the second life you thought your
life was over
and what do you do with it I have tried
to raise the bar on myself elevate my
game do things that I probably wouldn’t
have done if I hadn’t had that
experience I’ve done a lot of things
that you know I would say stray outside
the lines for me but I did them because
I realized I’ve already had a second
chance I’m not going to have a third so
I’m going to take full advantage of
what’s been offered to me from a
military perspective this mission was a
success that mission that day was a
success we captured the people we were
after you know if you define success
from military perspective as casualties
the casualties on the other side far
outnumber dollars but we lost people and
anytime we lose people we have such a
high standard here with our military in
the United States that any loss
whatsoever is is viewed upon with great
speculation but in the big picture
that’s the price we’re going to pay I
mean if we’re going to go try to fight
Isis if we’re going to go try to to
straighten out places like Afghanistan
people are going to die and if we don’t
accept that going in we shouldn’t go
because that is the world that we live
in it’s dangerous these missions are
hard and there will be a price to pay
which is one of the Blackhawks and I was
actually leading an element of aircraft
and and that means my responsibility is
to fly in this case four aircraft into
the target area and put troops on the
ground
you know the mission itself was to
capture a warlord and some of his senior
people we’d been doing that for a couple
of months when the Black Hawk Down
mission occurred on October 3rd you know
there wasn’t a person involved in that
mission who didn’t put their life on the
line that day for someone or to support
the mission and I think that’s a real
important message you know we get caught
up in a lot of other things but that
selflessness and that commitment to each
other and that commitment to the mission
I think is a is at the core of the story
the manifestation of it for me is Randy
Shughart and Gary Gordon the Medal of
Honor recipients who came to our crash
site they insisted that they be dropped
off and they were and that’s why I’m
here today I went to survival school and
in survival school they go without
eating for three days and they slap you
around a little bit and then for me
having experienced it for real in the
real world’s not even close in my mind I
died when we crashed I was knocked
unconscious and I think psychologically
that was the end for me it was a violent
crash it was you know you could argue
not survivable by looking at it so you
sort of have this rebirth where now you
have the second life you thought your
life was over
and what do you do with it I have tried
to raise the bar on myself elevate my
game do things that I probably wouldn’t
have done if I hadn’t had that
experience I’ve done a lot of things
that you know I would say stray outside
the lines for me but I did them because
I realized I’ve already had a second
chance I’m not going to have a third so
I’m going to take full advantage of
what’s been offered to me from a
military perspective this mission was a
success that mission that day was a
success we captured the people we were
after you know if you define success
from military perspective as casualties
the casualties on the other side far
outnumber dollars but we lost people and
anytime we lose people we have such a
high standard here with our military in
the United States that any loss
whatsoever is is viewed upon with great
speculation but in the big picture
that’s the price we’re going to pay I
mean if we’re going to go try to fight
Isis if we’re going to go try to to
straighten out places like Afghanistan
people are going to die and if we don’t
accept that going in we shouldn’t go
because that is the world that we live
in it’s dangerous these missions are
hard and there will be a price to pay
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