In this week's issue, see our interview with SEAL Team Six sniper, Howard Wasdin, whose service during the Battle of Mogadishu (Black Hawk Down) reminds us of the profound resilience of the human spirit. Yet today, Wasdin tells his story as one of redemption, and through it, he has helped other veterans pull themselves up from the same state he fell into. Recommended Stories. Dr. Howard E. Wasdin, D.C. (born Howard E. Wilbanks on November 8, 1961) is a former member of the United States Navy who served as a sailor in the Atlantic Fleet as well as a Navy SEAL.Following his honorable discharge, he co-wrote the autobiographical memoir SEAL Team Six: Memoirs of an Elite Navy SEAL Sniper.He also wrote I Am a SEAL Team Six Warrior: Memoirs of an American Soldier. The mission went infamously wrong. © 2018-2021 - Brandscovery. On Oct. 3, 1993, they launched a mission to apprehend these men. I was a jumpmaster, I was a dive supervisor, I had at that point over 750 parachute jumps and never so much as a sprained ankle. Wasdin said many veterans have felt this same pain seeing the battles they fought ridiculed and the values they lost friends to uphold criticized. Wasdin said, “through trial comes enlightenment,” and added, “I can’t show you anybody I know that has character that hasn’t had adversity. “I was adopted at an early age, beaten and abused as a child until my teen years,” he said. Gradually, he was able to open up about his experiences, and he said “especially after Somalia, it took me 17 years to really talk about it and get it out”. For Wasdin, this was personal. Three gunshots nearly cost him his leg, and he was cast from being one of the top snipers in America’s elite military force, to being a man injured both inside and out. As they drove further, he was shot again in the same leg. The conflict quickly escalated, and NATO began fighting back. He was haunted by his past—the battle immortalized in the film “Black Hawk Down,” when a small group of U.S. Special Operations Forces faced down thousands of Somali fighters in an effort to rescue each other after a mission to capture lieutenants …, Former Navy SEAL Howard Wasdin (Center-Left) stands for a photo with the sniper team at the Pasha safehouse in Mogadishu in 1993. The Somalia conflict would later become more commonly known as "Black Hawk Down", nick-named after the story depicted by Mark Bowden in his book and movie of the same name. "Black Hawk Down" im Oktober 1993 bekannt geworden. It was to run the safehouse.”. Wasdin becomes a sniper capable of felling a target at 850 yards. He now looks back on his trials as a gift that helped him find peace, and find himself. Yet, one night, Wasdin heard the child’s death moans, and decided he was going to save the kid, with or without approval. He found love again, got custody of his son, and rediscovered his faith. Yet, the mission went infamously wrong. Yet, just in time, a rescue team sent from the U.S. base managed to pick them up and transport them back to base. He now looks back on his trials as a gift that helped him to find peace, and find himself. I think that’s the character builder.”. Bible Prayer Request Give to CBN Partners E-mail Updates About Contact The plan was simple: Four Army Rangers would fast rope from hovering Black Hawk helicopters and form a perimeter, while Delta Force operators would infiltrate the building from Little Bird helicopters and arrest Aidid’s lieutenants. They didn’t know whether or not enemy fighters were also in the home, so moving in required them to handle this as a potentially dangerous mission. Soon after, an enemy fighter shot down one of the Black Hawk helicopters with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, and not long after, more fighters managed to shoot down the second Black Hawk. The pain came from many directions. By continuing to use this website you agree to our, Former SEAL Team Six Sniper Tells of Finding Peace After Black Hawk Down Incident, https://brandscovery.com/life/content-2252875-former-seal-team-six-sniper-tells-finding-peace-after-black-hawk-down-incident, https://codecprime.com/partner/sites/default/files/images/2017/11/07/6190-SniperTeam_Pasha-700x420.png, https://img.brandscovery.com/s/3/2021-01/keyboard-338505_1920-мал.jpg. The incident took a physical toll on Wasdin, forcing him to leave the military and assimilate back into civilian life.. Think about how sick yet effective that is.”. Read the excerpt from Howard Wasdin’s SEAL Team Six: Memoirs of an Elite Navy Seal Sniper. The mission turned from being focused on capturing the enemy lieutenants to rescuing the men in the downed helicopters. One of the snipers in his unit was a bodybuilder, and when the kids came by, he would playfully flex and kiss his biceps. Multi-function Dynamic Sports Smartwatch — $99.99, For years Dr. Howard Wasdin lived with chronic pain, survivor’s guilt, and depression. After his experience in Somalia, former President Bill Clinton pulled the U.S. forces out of the country, which left him and others feeling that their mission and their sacrifices were for nothing. COURTESY OF HOWARD WASDIN Wasdin, talking to locals in Somalia in 1991, was awarded the Silver Star for his valor in battle “When I say you want to help people, that means in whatever capacity, whether it’s hostage rescue, helping this little kid, whatever it takes, up to and including dying trying to get the job done.”. Former SEAL Team Six Sniper Tells of Finding Peace After Black Hawk Down Incident. In this behind-the-scenes chronicle, former ST6 shooter Howard Wasdin takes readers deep inside the world of Navy SEALs and Special Forces snipers. I was a jump master, I was a dive supervisor, I had at that point over 750 parachute jumps and never so much as a sprained ankle. This was no easy task, however. While exchanging gunfire, Wasdin was shot again, and while the assailant was killed, the shot had nearly torn Wasdin’s leg off. “Especially after Somalia, it took me 17 years to really talk about it and get it out,” he said. But the events that inspired Black Hawk Down also took place, unfortunately right at a high point of the mission when the soldiers were talking about going home. I had people get hurt and killed around me, and I never got a scratch.”, After being shot the third time, he said he realized, “well, I guess when it’s all said and done, I’m just flesh and bone too.”. Wasdin wanted to save the kid, and asked the CIA agent running the safe house to call headquarters and request “compromise authority,” which would clear them for an action that could compromise their mission. He asked his friend to get the kid a wheelchair. (Courtesy of Howard Wasdin), The Discovery & Restoration of Leonardo da Vinci's Long-Lost Painting "Salvator Mundi", Big Isn't Better, It's Just Better; The Restoration of St. Francis, Advanced Multi-function Robot Vacuum Cleaner, The Minimalist RFID Blocking Vegan Leather Wallet, Nourishing Organic Facial Wash, Moisturizer & Kaolin Mud Mask - For Women. They planned to be in and out within 30 minutes—the amount of time it often took Aidid’s forces to respond. This book is not a full account of the Battle of Mogadishu. I think that’s the character builder.”. Over the years, he found that many other veterans were in the same state he was in, and he has managed to help others by sharing his story in presentations. And I think that my misperception of who I was, it was just time for him to bring it down a notch, if that’s a good way to put it—to show me I really was human and he had a bigger plan for me,” he said. Today, when veterans ask him why they fought, Wasdin said he tells them, “The reason I did what I did, and the reason I would still do what I did, is for love of God and country.”, He believes that “we’ve forgotten how to love our country.”, “We’ve forgotten how to love each other,” he said. His right foot had been blown off, and his left foot was badly injured. I was highly trained, I was versed in many things. On top of it, he suffered from chronic pain and survivor’s guilt, with thoughts of, “Why was I allowed to live, and better people died?”, “I had to get past the point where I was blaming God for everything bad in my life,” he said, noting, “Getting to that dark spot is a gradual process, and it’s so gradual that you don’t realize it.”, He said he came to realize, however, that “the light didn’t move away from me—I moved away from the light.”. “Through trial comes enlightenment,” he said, adding, “I can’t show you anybody I know that has character that hasn’t had adversity. I couldn’t believe that I got shot.”. “I was adopted at an early age, beaten and abused as a child until my teen years,” he said. Howard Wasdin was injured at the Battle of Mogadishu, the inspiration for the film “Black Hawk Down.” In his book “The Last Rescue,” he tells of his battles at war and at home. His wounds were rotting with gangrene, and each night his family would bring him outside to the porch, since they couldn’t otherwise sleep with the nauseating stench. At the beginning of the mission Wasdin was helping run a safehouse in Mogadishu called Pasha, and each night, a terrible smell would fill the air. “We got that every day after we started that local project in Pasha, once we were no longer a concealed safehouse and started helping everybody,” he said, noting that they also helped teach the locals to purify their water, since many were suffering from cholera. As Wasdin was lying on the runway, waiting to be flown for medical treatment, the CIA agent who ran the safe house with him came and asked if there was anything he could do. HT1 Howard Wasdin enlisted in the Navy in 1983 as an antisubmarine warfare operator and rescue swimmer. KEEPING YOUR SKIN HEALTHY...FACE AND BODY! They were low on ammunition and enemy fighters were moving in on them. The convoy kept moving, and Wasdin and the men with him were left behind. The force of 160 U.S. troops would soon find themselves surrounded on all sides by 4,000 to 6,000 enemy fighters. The convoy kept moving, and Wasdin and the men with him were left behind. They tried negotiating peace between the warlords, but Aidid refused, and as his attacks became more serious, the United States sent in a team of special operations forces that included the Navy SEALs, Army Rangers, and the secretive Delta Force to open supply lines to civilians and apprehend Aidid. He asked his friend to get the kid a wheelchair. For the men running the secretive location in the otherwise hostile area, this set off an alarm, and they set out to investigate. They continued to help the kid on the following nights, and eventually the family was providing them with tea—a gift far beyond their means. Wasdin and other troops put on their night vision goggles, grabbed their rifles, and entered the home. For Wasdin, that battle was the end of his career in Navy SEAL Team 6. A faction led by the local warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid was among the key forces blocking any chance of peace in Somalia, and the U.S. forces had obtained strong leads on the location of several lieutenants of Aidid. HOWARD WASDIN, FORMER NAVY SEAL SNIPER COURTESY OF HOWARD WASDIN Author and former Navy SEAL Team Six sniper Howard Wasdin, with his wife, Debbie, lost friends during the “Black Hawk Down” battle in Somalia. After the Battle of Mogadishu, where he was awarded the Silver Star, Wasdin medically retired from the Navy in November, 1995, after 12 years of service. Wasdin’s leg was saved by a doctor, but coming home was another battle. Howard Wasdin is a former member of SEAL Team Six who was wounded in the Battle of Mogadishu, made famous in "Black Hawk Down." This was no easy task, however. U.S. Marines were sent to provide aid and quickly ended the famine, yet after they pulled out and UN Peacekeepers moved in, one of the most powerful warlords, Mohamed Farrah Aidid, backed by Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaeda terrorist group, began seizing the relief goods and began ambushing and killing those providing aid. Howard served in the US Navy for twelve years, nine of which were as part of the SEAL Teams. Wasdin said the parallel of him nearly losing his leg reminded him of the boy next to the Pasha safehouse. 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