“Some of us will live and some of us will die.” This line shows that one of the men probably won’t hold anything back. He will probably let you guys in back to get to have all the fun. I like this line because it sounds like something that every man would say.
I have a question for Nelson. What were you thinking when the lieutenant told you to stay? Would you have stayed and argued with the lieutenant if DiTomasso said you couldn’t go, and that you guys had to stay and keep a perimeter around the spot that you guys were at? Nelson or would you have just left and went to the bird that crashed and try to help those guys out? Would you have done that even if you job was at jeopardy.
If I was Nelson I don’t think I would have listened. I just saw the Black Hawk going down; some of my friends, and the only thing I felt like doing were running to help my friends. When I saw it go down I felt sick to my stomach. I got upset when I had started to run to the crash and my lieutenant said no. that we had to stay and keep the perimeter. I wanted to argue with him and tell him that those are our men and our friends and remind him that we were in Somalia. Then tell him the Somalia’s might torture them if the guys were still alive.
The significant part of this scene was when the second helicopter crashed. If the story didn’t have this in it then this scene wouldn’t have been that interesting. Also if this part was not in the story then Nelson would not have been able to argue with his lieutenant. He would not have had to get the lieutenant to let him and some other guys go to the crash sit with him.
Chapters 9-14
The action in scenes nine through fourteen had to do with getting to the second crash site. They had to get there so they could get those who were still alive out of there and destroy the helicopter. They had to destroy the helicopter so the Somalia’s could not use the pieces to make the weapons. On the way to the second crash site the convoy picked up Eversmann and his men.
“Jump on the hood.” I liked this line because it is kind of funny. It’s like telling someone to just stand there while you are being shot at. It is more stupid than it is funny but it was still funny. “Forget the F***ing ropes.” I like this one because of the men where so worried about the ropes that someone had to tell him to just put the ropes down and leave them there. Even though the ropes where a great deal of money they weren’t worth dying over.
I have a question for Spalding. Why couldn’t you get over the fact that one of the men just shot the mom and the kid? Why would you have waited until she shot at you to shoot back? What happens if she just so happened to shoot you or hurt you really bad then what would you have done? Would you have shot at her if she didn’t have the kid in her arms?
15-20
The significance of this scene was trying to get to the second crash site alive. When the lead convoy asked the chopper that he was supposed to talk to for directions they got the wrong directions. They got the wrong directions because the choppers had a misunderstanding. The convoy was almost to the crash site but they didn’t know that so they asked for directions. The directions that they got sent them back to where they had begun at. In the middle of trying to get to the crash sit they ran into a gun fest. They were losing men left and right it seemed. There was not one person that hadn’t been at least hit or killed. When they started to go back to the beginning the chopper that they were supposed to get the directions from finally said “stop.” Only because they were giving directions to the wrong convoy. After that they got it sorted out and were going the right way. Except this time there were bracing themselves for another ambush.
I am glad that the lieutenant of the convoy didn’t freak out and thought about what he had to do even though he was injured badly too. I’ve just entered a gun fest and can not turn back. I have some more convoys behind but I am stuck going straight through everything. I’ve just had my driver temporally blinded because he got hit in the back of the head to hard. I can drive I’ve been shot in both legs and can’t let go or I will bleed to death. This is all just a mess. I am loosing my men as if they were pool balls; one by one they are going down the hole.
Schilling is staying pretty calm. After seeing almost all your men get shot or killed he is not freaking out as bad as I would have imagined. I would have not stayed that calm if I just got host and had my driver get blinded. The guys would have probably wanted to knock me out for that time being. I would kind of be shocked if I didn’t freak out because I can take a lot of pain but that’s what I think I would end up doing. I like the way Schilling is handling himself though.