52 pages • 1 hour read
Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War
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Symbols & Motifs
Black Hawks
The Black Hawk helicopters, small, flying fortresses, are formidable machines. One Somali recalls a time when the powerful updraft from the rotors was enough to lift a baby out of his mother’s arms. The Black Hawks have powerful weaponry and armor that is nearly impenetrable. They give the troops a sense of security.
When the first Black Hawk crashes, the men feel vulnerable. If one of the symbols of their strength and military might can be destroyed, then they can as well. When the second Black Hawk crashes, it amplifies the men’s fear. The Somalis do not have anything as technologically advanced as the Black Hawks, and yet, they are able to disable three of them with inaccurate, relatively primitive weapons such as the RPG launchers. The Black Hawks represent the American troop’s overconfidence in their military superiority.
Delta Force
The Delta Force operators are the most skilled, lethal group of fighters on earth. Unsurprisingly, many of the young Rangers worship them, to the consternation of regulation-abiding men like Steele. Bowen writes of Steele, “For better or worse, the attitudes and practices of the elite commandos started to rub off on his Rangers when they began bunking together in the hangar” (173).
The only way to try out for Delta—which many Rangers aspire to do—is to be skilled enough in combat to gain the attention of Delta Force leadership. When Shughart and Gordon land near Durant’s helicopter, they are confident that, from a good position, they will be able to hold off hundreds of Somalis. These elite forces are a symbol of American military power and confidence.
Delta Force also becomes a symbol of the friction that can exist between different levels of the military. They are all on the same team, but Howe looks down on lesser soldiers. Steele is frustrated that the D-Boys do not have to obey regulations, and yet his Rangers emulate and idolize them.
The Battle of Mogadishu Memorial
Before returning home, the troops erect a memorial to the men who fell in the Battle of Mogadishu. The text is from a famous martial speech in Shakespeare’s Henry V. In the speech, King Henry is speaking to his military force, which is outnumbered. He encourages his men to think of the stories they’ll tell of their courage, the men that will be jealous of their feats in battle, and the brotherhood they’re becoming a part of.
Whoever does not have the stomach for this fight, let him depart. Give him money to speed his departure since we wish not to die in that man’s company. Whoever lives past today and comes home safely will rouse himself every year on this day, show his neighbor his scars, and tell embellished stories of all their great feats of battle. These stories he will teach his son and from this day until the end of the world we shall be remembered. We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; for whoever has shed his blood with me shall be my brother. And those men afraid to go will think themselves lesser men as they hear of how we fought and died together (325).
The quotation conveys what the living soldiers think of the fallen; they feel as though they’ve lost their brothers. It encourages the man who “does not have the stomach” for the fight to leave, a poignant remark considering that so many men died during the mission.
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