This past Saturday Samsonite ran the 17th Annual “Mogadishu Mile” 5k Memorial Run. The event commemorates the six Rangers killed during Operation Gothic Serpent on 3 October 1993. Proceeds from the event are donated to the Ranger Assistance foundation, benefiting Rangers of the 3rd Ranger Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment who have given their lives in support of the Global War on Terror.
Operation Gothic Serpent is perhaps more commonly known as “Black Hawk Down” – popularized by the book by Mark Bowden and the film starring Josh Hartnet and Jason Isaacs. The original Mogadishu Mile was run by an element of Rangers from 3-75.
From Wikipedia: The Mogadishu Mile refers to a mile-long run by American Rangers and Delta Force soldiers from a helicopter crash site to the Pakistani Stadium during the Battle of Mogadishu on October 4, 1993. The Americans involved were part of Task Force Ranger, an attempt to overthrow Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. Originally they were supposed to take cover by running alongside a convoy of Humvees and armored personnel carriers, however when the convoy misunderstood that the vehicles were needed for cover, they left them and the soldiers were forced to run without support and with very little ammunition.
Actually, it was more of a brisk “tactical file” than the sprint-to-the-finish that the movie depicts, but nonetheless, these dudes had to rely on their feet and fitness to get them back to safety. Surely these Rangers had run 1000s of miles in training, just like the Piranas, and all of those training miles paid off when it really mattered. So for every mile we run in our tech fiber t-shirts, with Body Glide between our thighs, Heed in a handheld, Endurolytes in a pocket, a crew vehicle on speed-dial, and a cold beer in our near futures, let’s remember the boys of 3-75 and the mile they ran for their lives.
“Hey, T3, how much farther to go?”
“‘Bout a mile!”
Thank you, Soldiers, that none of our miles have to be like your one epic Mogadishu Mile.
And here’s the super-dramatized sprint-to-the-finish scene from the movie, but it still fires me up every time I watch it!