War is usually messy. But what happened in Mogadishu on October 3, 1993, was something else entirely. Most of us know the story from the Ridley Scott movie—the grainy green night-vision, the relentless RPG fire, the "Mogadishu Mile." But lately, there's been a surge in people looking for surviving Black Hawk Down videos, mostly because the real-life survivors are finally speaking out in ways they never did before.
Honestly, the Hollywood version is just a snapshot. Real life is weirder.
Last year, a massive three-part documentary series actually titled Surviving Black Hawk Down hit Netflix. It didn't just rehash the American side; it sat down with the Somali fighters and civilians who were on the other end of those barrels. It’s heavy stuff. If you’ve seen the clips floating around TikTok or YouTube, you’re seeing bits of a much larger, much more painful puzzle that’s taken over thirty years to piece together.
The Pilot Who Lived: Mike Durant’s Perspective
If you’re hunting for the most impactful surviving Black Hawk Down videos, you usually end up at Mike Durant. He was the pilot of Super 64. When his bird went down, it wasn't a quick "cut to black" moment. It was a slow-motion nightmare.
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Durant has done some incredible long-form interviews recently—specifically on the Jocko Podcast and the Shawn Ryan Show. He talks about the "surreal" feeling of seeing Randy Shughart and Gary Gordon appear at his crash site. He didn't know at the time that they were the only two guys coming. He thought a whole rescue team was right behind them.
"They looked like they were planning a parking lot," Durant said in an interview with PBS's American Valor. He was talking about how calm the two snipers were while they were essentially choosing to die to save him.
The video footage from that day is haunting. You’ve probably seen the clip of Durant, face bloodied and eyes wide with terror, being questioned by his captors. He spent 11 days in a room, sometimes tied with a dog chain, wondering if he’d ever see his family again. Seeing him today—a retired businessman who even ran for the U.S. Senate in Alabama—is a wild contrast to that 1993 footage.
Why the "Forgotten Bastards" Are Finally Being Seen
For decades, the story focused on the Rangers and Delta Force. But there was another group: the 10th Mountain Division. These guys were the ones in the "Lost Convoy," driving around in unarmored Humvees and 5-ton trucks while the city literally rained lead on them.
A lot of the newer surviving Black Hawk Down videos and documentaries are finally giving these men their due. Men like Rolando “Poncho” Carrizales, who was paralyzed during the mission. There’s a really moving video from Army Times about a guy named Ricord who rebuilt a 1993 Harley Davidson and took it across the country to have the survivors sign it.
It’s not just about the "action." It’s about the fact that many of these soldiers were told they could only nominate one person per platoon for a valor award. For thirty years, they sat in silence while the movie made everyone else famous. Now, they’re finally getting their medals upgraded.
The Somali Side of the Lens
This is where it gets uncomfortable. One of the most significant pieces of "new" footage comes from a Somali man known as Ahmed “Five.” He was a wedding photographer who realized the city was tearing itself apart and decided to start filming the chaos.
In the 2025 Netflix doc, we see his footage:
- Elders taking their last breaths in the dust.
- Children huddled in schools while helicopters roared overhead.
- The sheer scale of the Somali casualties, which is estimated anywhere from 315 to over 1,000 people.
For the Americans, it was a tactical mission gone wrong. For the Somalis, it was their neighborhood. One woman, Halima Weheliye, describes running barefoot with 20 children through the streets. It changes how you watch the "action" scenes in the movie when you realize people were living in those buildings.
The Logistics of Survival (And the Smell of Bleach)
Tom Satterly, a Delta Force operator who survived the night at the crash site, talks about something you don't see in the videos: the aftermath. He mentions how the smell of bleach still triggers him. Why? Because when they got back to base, they had to use it to scrub the blood of their friends off the tarmac.
He’s very open about the PTSD. He runs the All Secure Foundation now. Watching his interviews, you realize that "surviving" isn't just about getting out of the city alive. It’s about surviving the next thirty years of your own head.
The gear was different then, too. No GPS. No blue-force trackers. Just "follow the smoke." Jeff Struecker, who was a sergeant leading the ground convoys, has some powerful "Faith Over Fear" videos where he talks about the literal moment he decided he was going to die. He went back into the city anyway. Multiple times.
How to Find the Real Footage Today
If you’re looking for the rawest, most accurate surviving Black Hawk Down videos, skip the "tribute" montages with heavy metal music. Look for these instead:
- The Shawn Ryan Show (Episode #259): Mike Durant goes into granular detail for over three hours.
- Mulligan Brothers Interviews: They have a series with Tom Satterly that is incredibly raw.
- The 2025 Netflix Docuseries: This is the most balanced look at the battle ever produced.
- The "Mogadishu Mile" Walkthroughs: There are videos of survivors like Jeff Struecker actually returning to the streets of Mogadishu decades later to show where things happened.
What This Means for Us Now
The Battle of Mogadishu changed how the U.S. handles foreign intervention. It’s why we didn't go into Rwanda. It’s why "boots on the ground" became a political third rail.
But for the guys who were there, it’s not politics. It’s the guy to their left and right.
If you want to support the real survivors, don't just watch the clips. Look into the All Secure Foundation (Satterly’s group) or the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. These organizations deal with the actual, long-term cost of that one "90-minute mission" that turned into a lifetime of memory.
Actionable Next Steps
- Watch the 2025 Netflix Series: Search for Surviving Black Hawk Down to see the dual-perspective accounts.
- Listen to the "Untold" Stories: Check out the Danger Close podcast with Jack Carr, specifically the episodes featuring Kyle Lamb or Scott Miller.
- Support Veteran Mental Health: If these stories move you, look into charities that specifically target Special Operations PTSD, as the transition back to civilian life for these survivors is often the hardest battle they face.