How much of your life can you live in 11 days? How long would you wait to tell the story of those years you lived in those days? What would you do with the rest of your life?
On October 3rd, 1993, CW2 Michael J. Durant was shot down flying a Blackhawk over Mogadishu, Somalia. An RPG supplied and modified by an enemy we did not yet know damaged his aircraft beyond its capabilities to make it to safety, setting off the events that would recognize unsung heroes. Men that did not know him would give their lives to protect him. Enemies that would know him would come to love him. He would draw on all his inner strengths to survive.
Yes, part of his story has been told before. But Black Hawk Down was about the whole story and this is about his part of it. He no doubt struggled with the idea of telling the rest of the story and one part of it in particular, but he told it and all that read it will be blessed for having done so. He is honest not only about what he saw but also what he did not. He explains not only what brought him to that place at that time, but also his conclusions of how things went wrong.
He tells of his fears and of the bravery of those that surrounded him. His life nor will his body ever be the same, but he did not let a broken back, a gunshot, a broken face, nor steel splinted leg stop him from returning to duty, from returning to the things he loved, becoming even better than he was before the biggest challenge his life had ever presented.
Stumble It!
