Somalia descended into terror and chaos when civil war began in 1988, while combat operations triggered famine across the country. The peace negotiations between the combatant groups during early 1993 did not yield successful results. The American command created Operation Gothic Serpent to apprehend anti-government leader General Mohammed Farah Aidid. Somali security forces tried to take two of Aidid’s clan leaders into custody on October 3, 1993, in Mogadishu. Sixteen helicopters from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, including MH-60L Black Hawks, supported the special forces unit during the operation.

The mission’s initial success at capturing targets turned into chaos when rebels and local civilians, including women and children, fiercely resisted the unit. UN Mogadishu forces needed to conduct a rescue operation after two MH-60L helicopters sustained shootdown damage, which caused casualties. American soldiers considered this battle to be the most intense close combat they had faced since the Vietnam War. Somalia remained unchanged after the operation, and by 1994, both UN and US forces completed their withdrawal from the country.