"Ranger, Ranger, you die Somalia!" shouted the enraged Somali voices surrounding Blackhawk helicopter pilot Michael J. Durant, his bird shot down by a well-placed rocket-propelled grenade. With his devastating injuries, Durant would be lucky to survive the night."Mike Durant ... Mike Durant ..." came the disembodied voice floating above the war-torn streets of Mogadishu, mixed in with the steady drone of a large U.S. Army helicopter. "Mike Durant ... We will not leave without you!"Piloting a U.S. Army Special Operations Blackhawk, Durant was shot down and captured on October 3, 1993, in the battle depicted in Mark Bowden's bestselling book Black Hawk Down. Although saved by two valiant but doomed Delta Force operators from being torn apart, Durant became a prisoner of Somali warlord Mohammed Aidid - the man responsible for prolonging starvation in his country by hijacking United Nations food shipments. U.S. policy makers had determined that capturing Aidid was the only way to restore order. The simple snatch-and-grab plan, named Operation Gothic Serpent, turned into the biggest U.S. firefight since the Vietnam War.Durant became one of the most famous POWs of all time while held captive by a seemingly backward yet media-savvy people. That he survived speaks to his tough training, his outstanding experience as an Army aviator, and his never-quit attitude. Durant had set his sights on flying helos while still in high school, and he excelled at a job he loved. His first posting was to the 377th Medevac Unit near Seoul, a job that entailed dangerous night flying close to the volatile 38th Parallel. He joined the secretive and elite 160th SOAR (A) Night Stalkers and saw combat in the Persian Gulf, Panama, Iraq, and Somalia. Throughout his career, Durant was surrounded by men who fought courageously for causes they whole-heartedly believed in, and died as heroes so that their comrades might live.Durant's experience as a prisoner in Somalia grew increasingly bizarre over time, crystallizing a clash of cultures by turns frightening, melancholy, hilarious, and strangely familiar. Revealing never-before-told stories with the incisive thought and the emotion of one who was there, In the Company of Heroes is one man's unforgettable true story of going to hell and making it back alive. Read Less