Mogadishu veteran ponders 'lessons learned'.

• Author: Book, Elizabeth G.
• Position: Washington Pulse - Premiere of 'Black Hawk Down' - Brief Article

During the Washington, D.C., premiere of the movie Black Hawk Down, former helicopter commander for the 160th company, Army Col. Thomas Matthews, told National Defense that, Hollywood hoopla notwithstanding, there are serious lessons to be learned from the October 1993 battle of Mogadishu, Somalia, in which 18 American soldiers died.

"I think the lesson to be learned is, when you commit the military to an operation you need to understand that that is serious business," he said. "If you are going to conduct combat operations you need to be willing to accept the consequences of using these precious resources-our soldiers-for such an effort.

"We set out to capture two people that day, and we did," he said. "We were conducting combat...