Day of the Rangers

The Battle of Mogadishu 25 Years On

By: Leigh Neville, Matt Eversmann - foreword

Narrated by: Joe Barrett

On October 3, 1993, Task Force Ranger was dispatched to seize two high-profile lieutenants of a Somali warlord. Special Forces troops were transported by ground vehicles and helicopters, and the mission was meant to be over within the hour. They quickly found themselves under heavy fire, and two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down. With a hastily organized relief column many hours away, the American troops faced a desperate battle for survival.

Focusing on the stories of the soldiers on the ground and in the air, Day of the Rangers reveals the experiences and recollections of the Special Forces units, including the Rangers, Delta operators, and Nightstalker crews who fought in the battle of Mogadishu.

Published to mark the battle's 25th anniversary and using recently declassified documents and new interviews with many of the participants, Day of the Rangers is a fascinating and revealing new history of a battle that would influence American Special Forces for decades to come.

©2018 Leigh Neville (P)2018 Tantor

You've seen the movie. You should read this book.

This is an informative and complete account of Blackhawk down. I learn d a lot while listening. The reader is one of my favorites and does a good job. Lots of heroes and lessons learned. It's more than worth your time, this is a great read.

Great Book

Great detail and explanation of the lead-up to and the events of October 3rd and 4th as well as the aftermath and lessons learned. I thought it was well-written and with the amount of time that’s passed the author was able to talk to more now-retired participants and build a more accurate and complete picture than Bowden did. I wish there was a way to see any maps and images from the book.

My only complaints are about the narrator. I found his Gen Garrison and Somali accents to be bad and distracting and his normal voice generally grating. Also found the fact that he didn’t take the tiny amount of time it would’ve taken to learn how to correctly pronounce basic military acronyms that are frequently used throughout the book such as JOC and NODs really annoying.

Great on details, but the performance...

If the event is of interest to you, you can't NOT read/listen to the book, but I could not groove to the narration at all. The voice, tone and sometimes tempo just don't sync with what was going on. At least not in my mind. Otherwise a great accounting of the Battle of Mogadishu.

Awesome account

Awesome and hyper accurate first hand accout of the battle of Mogadishu. This was the battle the influenced and change a significant number of strategic and tactical procedures for US SOF. Would highly recommend for anyone wanting to know what really happened that day.

Great book

loved the depth taken to get it done right. The accuracy is off the charts and needed to be said.