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Mark Bowden, Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1999. Pp. 386. $24.00, hardcover.
Black Hawk Down should be of interest to anyone who wants to understand modern urban warfare, and how society shapes the evaluation of its effects. It is not the book to read, however, to understand how a humanitarian mission to feed Somalis ended up in a street battle in Mogadishu.
As one enters the story, members of the U.S. Army's Task Force Ranger, which includes both Delta Force and Ranger units, are about to undertake a daylight mission to round up some of the top leaders of the Habr Gidr clan. Delta Force is at the top of the U.S Army's war-fighting pyramid. In the States, members of Delta Force wear civilian clothes, have long hair, and are given considerable leeway in other areas, which, Bowden says, is part of their compensation for facing the greatest risks in the execution of U.S. military policy.
A significant notch below the "D-boys" are Army Rangers. The enlisted Rangers are gung-ho soldiers, typically in their late teens, and Bowden describes the misgivings that some members of Delta Force have for the Rangers' "ho-haw" spirit rituals, believing that these are no substitute for more realistic training. Some Delta Force soldiers are also irked because they think that the Rangers have a tendency to spend too much time watching Delta Force train instead of preparing for their own missions. However, the Rangers are still a select group, like an "all-star football team," having moved up from traditional infantry units through airborne school, and, after surviving Ranger school, into the Ranger units.
The members of Delta Force, on the other hand, "transcend rank," and...