President Clinton presided over the longest peace time in American history. While the United States was not directly involved in armed conflict in foreign nations, we did engage in humanitarian and peace keeping missions throughout the world. In fact, Clinton would send more troops overseas than any other president during a time of peace.
In 1993 a U.S. Army force in Mogadishu, consisting primarily of U.S. Army Rangers, known as “Delta Force” were attempting to seize warlords that were infringing on U.N. efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to the people of Somalia; the warlords had also declared war on U.N. peacekeepers. Shortly after the assault began, Somali militia and armed civilian fighters shot down two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters. The subsequent operation to recover the crews of both helicopters drew the raid, intended to last no more than an hour, into an overnight standoff in the city. The battle resulted in 18 deaths, 73 wounded, and one helicopter pilot captured among the U.S. raid party and rescue forces. Gary Gordon of Lincoln, Maine was one of the casualties. The incident is more commonly referred to as “Black Hawk Down.”