Carpenter S. Day of the Rangers

Osprey Publishing, 2012. — 120 p. — (Ambush Alley - Force on Force). — ISBN 9781472856861.Introduction:
In Somalia, October 3rd is remembered as Ma-alanti Rangers, or The Day of the Rangers. Throngs fill the streets to celebrate a battle that led to the withdrawal of American forces from Somalia, a battle which they view as a victory of the same proportion as Davids over Goliath.
In America, the day goes largely unnoticed. The anger evoked by shocking images of Somalis desecrating the bodies of fallen soldiers faded as American forces were quickly withdrawn from a nation that most Americans believed had bitten the hand that sought to feed it.
If Mark Bowden hadn’t chosen to make the Battle of the Black Sea (as the Rangers called it) the focus of one of the century’s most popular pieces of military journalism, the words “Irene” and “Super Six-One” would mean nothing to most of us.
But he did, and his book (and the blockbuster movie based upon it) opened the nation’s eyes to the sacrifice and valor of Americas soldiers and airmen on that fateful day, that Day of the Rangers. The events that occurred on that dusty October day in 1993 have now entered the realm of American military mythology and have become fertile ground for those of us who like to look at history through the lens of wargaming.