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"Black Hawk to Baghdad": The Mike Durant Interview

November 26, 2003 - He knows first hand war is hell. Notes he scribbled in the margins of a Bible during his 11 days of captivity come to life within the pages of his new best seller, IN THE COMPANY OF HEROES: The true story of Black Hawk Pilot Michael Durant and the men who fought and fell at Mogadishu.

Durant tells his true story, a chilling account of the hell he survived at the hands of his captures. A conflict that took 10 years to get the strength to write, a conflict with similar trials of the fight for democracy today.

Sunday, an Iraqi mob shoots and kill 2 U.S. Soldiers. The savage group then drags the soldiers from their car and beat the bloody bodies with concrete blocks. Disturbing, but reminiscent of a scene in Somalia a decade ago.

Few accounts of courage under fire are as compelling as Mike Durant's. Captured and tortured by an angry mob of Somali rebels after a crash, he's the Black Hawk pilot whose face appeared on the cover of magazines. Durant's story was later featured in the movie: "Black Hawk Down."

Retired, this father of five and highly decorated member of the U.S. Army's elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, spends his days working in Huntsville as a contractor in motion flight simulators. Far from the front lines, but never far removed when it comes to remembering the problems facing Americans willing to die for freedom.

"The troops understand this is a contact sport. In a place like Iraq, it's very uncontrolled, the enemy is unpredictable," said Durant.

Like most of us, Durant held his breath when American soldiers were taken prisoners of war. And cheered as he watched the Iraqi Regime fall. "The fact that the regime crumbling meant that nobody would be accountable for what happened to them."

He only wishes the glare of the International cameras would not beam as brightly when it comes to those in protest. "It has a demoralizing affect on the troops, discouraging for them to have a sense of accomplishment, yet see all of this negative spin being put on what's going on over there." adds Durant.

But some say that is American Democracy at work. The sort of of freedom the soldiers are hoping to bring to the Iraqi people. "We can't lessen our resolve in in this operation, we've got to stay the course. We can't let the enemy believe that through the use of guerrilla and terrorist tactics, they can lessen our resolve and cause us to quit," said Durant. Word of advice from one of those who's truly been, "In the Company of Heroes."

After hitting the New York Times best seller's list, Durant is already hard at work with his second novel. In this true story, he's tracing the history of his Special Ops unit that has been involved in every major conflict since Granada. It's the same unit Durant says was sent in to rescue Jessica Lynch.

Courage and resolve of the country's best that could soon also be considered required reading.