Randy Shughart

Randy Shughart

Infobox Military Person
name= Randy Shughart
born= birth date|1958|8|13
died= death date and age|1993|10|3|1958|8|13
placeofbirth= Lincoln, Nebraska
placeofdeath= Mogadishu, Somalia
placeofburial=


caption= U.S. Army Sgt. First Class Randall Shughart, Medal of Honor for actions in Operation Gothic Serpent (October 3, 1993).
nickname=
allegiance=flag|United States of America
branch=United States Army
serviceyears= 1976-1993
rank= Sergeant First Class
commands=
unit= 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta
battles=Operation Just Cause Battle of Mogadishu
awards= |awards=
laterwork=
portrayedby= Johnny Strong in Black Hawk Down
Sgt. First Class Randall 'Randy' David Shughart (August 13, 1958–October 3, 1993) is a posthumous recipient of the Medal of Honor. At the time of his death, he was a non-commissioned officer in the United States Army's premiere special operations unit, the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (1SFOD-D), or "Delta Force." Together with Master Sgt. Gary Gordon, he was awarded the Medal of Honor for actions he performed during the Battle of Mogadishu in October 1993.

Biography

Randy Shughart was born on August 13, 1958 in Lincoln, Nebraska into an Air Force family. His father, Herbert Shughart, was stationed nearby. The Shughart’s moved to Newville, Pennsylvania after Herb left the Air Force, living on and tending a dairy farm. Randy joined the Army while attending Big Spring High School in Newville, entering upon graduation. After Basic Training, he successfully completed AIT (Advanced Individual Training), Airborne School, and was assigned to the decorated 2nd Ranger Battalion, 75th Infantry (Airborne), at Fort Lewis, Washington. The 2/75th is now part of the 75th Ranger Regiment. Several months later he completed a pre-ranger course (replaced by the Ranger Indoctrination Program in use today), was granted a slot to attend Ranger School and earned the coveted black and gold Ranger Tab. After leaving the Service and reenlisting again for the rangers, Shughart was later assigned to Special Forces and was transferred to Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Combat and death in Somalia

Shughart was deployed to Mogadishu, Somalia with other Delta members in the summer of 1993 as part of Task Force Ranger. On October 3, 1993, Shughart, as part of a three-man Delta Force sniper team including Sergeant First Class Brad Hallings, and team leader Master Sgt. Gary Gordon, participated in Operation Gothic Serpent, a joint-force assault mission to apprehend key advisers to Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid.

During the assault, Super Six One, one of the Army's Blackhawk helicopters providing insertion and air support to the assault team, was shot down and had crashed in the city. The CSAR (Combat Search And Rescue) team was dispatched to the first crash site to secure it. Shortly after, Super Six Four was shot down as well. Ranger forces on the ground were not able to assist the downed helicopter crew of the second crash site as they were already engaged in heavy combat with Aidid's militia and were making their way to the first crash site.

Shughart, Hallings and Gordon, who were providing sniper cover from the air, wanted to be dropped at the second crash site in order to protect the four critically wounded crew, despite the fact that large numbers of armed, hostile Somalis were converging on the area.

As the sniper team leader, Gordon made a formal request to be inserted. Mission commanders denied the request, saying that the situation was already too dangerous for the three Delta snipers to effectively protect the Blackhawk crew from the ground. Command's position was that the snipers could be of more assistance by continuing to cover the site from the air. Gordon, however, concluded that there was no possibility the Blackhawk crew could survive on their own, and kept repeating his request until he finally received permission. Before they could be inserted, a crew chief on their Blackhawk was injured and Hallings had to take his place on the minigun, leaving only Shugart and Gordon to be sent in to defend Super Six Four's crew.

Once on the ground, the Delta snipers, armed with only their personal weapons and sidearms, had to fight their way to the location of the downed Blackhawk. By this time there were more Somalis arriving, intent on either capturing or killing the American servicemen. When they reached Super Six Four, Gordon and Shughart extracted the pilot, CWO Mike Durant and the other crew members from the aircraft, and established defensive positions around the crash site.

Despite heavy casualties inflicted against the Somalis, Gordon and Shughart were outnumbered, outgunned, and unable to withstand the onslaught as their ammunition depleted. It is believed that Gordon was first to be fatally wounded. Shortly after Shughart returned to the wreckage he was killed by Somali gunfire. The mob then overran the crash site, found Durant and captured him.cite web |url =http://www.cmohs.org/recipients/somalia_citation.htm |title=Gary I. Gordon & Randall D. Shughart Full Medal of Honor Citation |accessdate= |format= |work= |publisher= Congressional Medal of Honor Society]

There was some confusion in the aftermath of the action as who had been killed first. The official citation states that it was Shughart, but Mark Bowden, author of "", the best-selling book about the October 1993 events, relates an account by Sergeant Paul Howe, another Delta operator participating in the battle. Howe said that he heard Shughart call for help on the radio and that the weapon handed to Durant was not the distinctive M21 used by Shughart. Durant already armed with his H&K MP5 (standard-issue automatic weapon for helicopter pilots) which had jammed on him several times. Durant also had a sidearm which he never used. It is likely that Durant would have commented had it been an M21, as that weapon is very different from the CAR-15 Gordon had. Furthermore, Howe said that Gordon would never have given his own weapon to another soldier to use while he was still able to fight.cite book |last =Bowden |first =Mark |authorlink = |coauthors = |title =Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War |publisher =Atlantic Monthly Press |date =1999 |location = |pages = |url = |doi = |id =]

In "Black Hawk Down", the 2001 movie directed by Ridley Scott and based on Bowden's book, Shughart was portrayed by actor Johnny Strong.

Medal of Honor citation

On May 23, 1994, Shughart and Gordon were posthumously decorated with the Medals of Honor in recognition for the actions they took and the sacrifices they made to help protect the life of Durant and the crew of Super Six Four. They were the only soldiers participating in Operation Gothic Serpent to receive the U.S. military's highest honor, and the first Medal of Honor recipients since the Vietnam War. [ [http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/mohsom.htm Medal of Honor Recipients: Somalia] U.S. Army Center of Military History]

Rank and organization: Sergeant First Class, U.S. Army. Place and date: 3 October 1993, Mogadishu, Somalia. Entered service at: ----- Born: Newville, Pennsylvania.

Citation::Sergeant First Class Shughart, United States Army, distinguished himself by actions above and beyond the call of duty on 3 October 1993, while serving as a Sniper Team Member, United States Army Special Operations Command with Task Force Ranger in Mogadishu, Somalia. Sergeant First Class Shughart provided precision sniper fires from the lead helicopter during an assault on a building and at two helicopter crash sites, while subjected to intense automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenade fires. While providing critical suppressive fires at the second crash site, Sergeant First Class Shughart and his team leader learned that ground forces were not immediately available to secure the site. Sergeant First Class Shughart and his team leader unhesitatingly volunteered to be inserted to protect the four critically wounded personnel, despite being well aware of the growing number of enemy personnel closing in on the site. After their third request to be inserted, Sergeant First Class Shughart and his team leader received permission to perform this volunteer mission. When debris and enemy ground fires at the site caused them to abort the first attempt, Sergeant First Class Shughart and his team leader were inserted one hundred meters south of the crash site. Equipped with only his sniper rifle and a pistol, Sergeant First Class Shughart and his team leader, while under intense small arms fire from the enemy, fought their way through a dense maze of shanties and shacks to reach the critically injured crew members. Sergeant First Class Shughart pulled the pilot and the other crew members from the aircraft, establishing a perimeter which placed him and his fellow sniper in the most vulnerable position. Sergeant First Class Shughart used his long range rifle and side arm to kill an undetermined number of attackers while traveling the perimeter, protecting the downed crew. Sergeant First Class Shughart continued his protective fire until he depleted his ammunition and was fatally wounded. His actions saved the pilot's life. Sergeant First Class Shughart's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest standards of military service and reflect great credit upon him, his unit and the United States Army.

USNS "Shughart"

The U.S. Navy officially named a roll-on/roll-off ship "USNS Shughart" in a ceremony at the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company, San Diego, California. [cite web |url=http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/ships/auxiliaries/shughart/naming.txt |title=Cargo Ship Shughart (T-AKR 295) Named After Medal of Honor Recipient |accessdate=2007-03-12 |format=Text file |work=Navy Office of Information]

Senator Bob Kerrey (D) of Nebraska was the ceremony's principal speaker. Serving as the ship's sponsor was Mrs. Stephanie Shughart, widow of the ship's namesake.

Some of the distinguished guests who attended the ceremony included:
*The Honorable John W. Douglass, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, (Research, Development and Acquisition)
*General Dennis J. Reimer, Chief of Staff, U.S. Army
*General Wayne A. Downing, U.S. Army, former Commander in Chief, Special Operations Command, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida
*Vice Admiral Philip M. Quast, Commander, Military Sealift Command
*Rear Admiral Paul M. Robinson, Program Executive Officer, Carriers Littoral Warfare and Auxiliary Ships
*Brigadier General William G. Boykin, former Commanding Officer, Army Combat Applications Group, and Sergeant Shughart's commanding officer at the time of his death
*and Mr. Dick Vortmann, Chief Executive Officer, National Steel and Shipbuilding Company, San Diego, California.

"Shughart" was the first "Large Medium Speed Roll On/Roll Off (LMSR) ship" to undergo conversion from commercial container vessel to sealift cargo ship. The ship is operated by the U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command, Washington, D.C.

ee also

*List of Medal of Honor recipients
*Gary Gordon
*United States Special Operations Forces
*Delta Force
*75th Ranger Regiment
*Special Forces Association

External links

Official military sites

*"Article:" [http://www.carlisle.army.mil/banner/shughart.htm Carlisle Barracks to dedicate Shughart Hall]
* [http://www.soc.mil/swcs/museum/medofhon.shtml JFK Special Warfare Museum: Medal of Honor Recipients]
* [http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/intl/somalia/clin0523.txt Remarks by the President at Medal of Honor ceremony]
* [http://www.infantry.army.mil/museum/inside_tour/descriptive_tour/17_somalia.htm U.S. Army Infantry Homepage: National Infantry Museum - Operation Restore Hope]
* [http://www.army.mil/cmh/html/moh/somalia.html U.S. Army Medal of Honor Recipients: Somalia]

Memorials

* [http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/pa09_shuster/shughart.html Naming of Randall D. Shughart United States Post Office Building in Newville, Pennsylvania]
* [http://bobmcdowell.com/ Special Forces Association Chapter LXIV, SFC Randall Shughart Memorial Chapter, Carlisle, PA]
* [http://www.westperry.k12.pa.us/606946217144914/blank/browse.asp?a=383&BMDRN=2000&BCOB=0&c=52289 Randall Shughart Memorial in the Veterans Memorial Grove] at West Perry High School, Perry County, Pennsylvania.Shughart-Gordon Urban Operations Training Center ("MOUT Site"), US Army Joint Readiness Training Center, Fort Polk, Louisiana.

Miscellaneous

* [http://www.voicenet.com/~lpadilla/blackhawk.html Medal of Honor Recipients on Film]

References

Further reading

*"Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War" by Mark Bowden, published by Penguin Books in 2000, ISBN 0-14-028850-3
*"In The Company of Heroes: A True Story" by Michael J. Durant with Steve Hartov, published by Putnam Publishing Group in 2003, ISBN 0-399-15060-9
*"The Battle of Mogadishu: First Hand Accounts from the Men of Task Force Ranger" by Matt Eversmann, published by Presidio Press in 2004, ISBN 0-345-45965-2


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