They were only in the truck for a couple minutes before they came to a screeching halt, the gate opened, and they jumped out of the truck. They were in a bustling square, somewhere in the depths of Mogadishu, Somalia. In the distance you could hear the faint sound of the US helicopters, but this was not alarming to anyone. They had all come accustom to the sound over the last couple of months. It was October 3, 1993, a day that would be burned into the Somali citizens as Maalintii Rangers, The Day of The Rangers.

Just miles away, in the wreckage of a downed helicopter, a pilot was layin a mess of mangled metal, side arm in hand, fending off attacking militants. All his fellow soldiers in the helicopter were dead, and he was running low on ammunition. At this point very few Somali militants had assembled, making it very easy for the pilot to fend off the attackers. He had managed to call for reinforcements, but they wouldn’t arrive for at least a half hour. As this all was happening the many civilians that had been rounded up by militant leaders were being armed with a wide range of automatic weapons. As large groups formed, they began to funnel down the narrow streets in every direction towards the crash site. At this point the very few reinforcements that had been assembled were within a few city blocks of the downed helicopter. On their tail was the first of many waves of the armed civilians. All of the sudden, shots were flying through the air. The US soldiers quickly dove behind abandoned cars and other debris that cluttered the streets. The group of militants was quickly killed, but many of them had scattered into the side alleys. A few of the soldiers were directed to branch off and find them. As one US Ranger slowly peeked around a corner then stepped into an alley, a boy, no older than 15, jumped up and began firing on the soldier. Thinking quickly, the Ranger dove through a nearby door. Inside he found a mother and her five children huddled in the middle of the room crying in fear. He slowly stepped through the room and went up to a door to the outside on the other side of the building. He cautiously peeked out of the door.

As this situation was unfolding, Abdikarim and his father were just coming up the main street. They had been separated from the main group because his father had hurt his leg when the man knocked him to the ground earlier. They had noticed that the door the noise that the soldier had made unlatching the door and they had hidden on either side, hoping to catch him by surprise.

The soldier slowly began to open the door. Dik and his father sat still waiting for the moment when they could jump up and kill him. Abdikarim had him finger on the trigger. The soldier stepped out of the door, but slipped on a ramp where he had expected there to be a step, and the soldier let out a loud grunt. Both Dik and his father popped up, and Abdikarim began to fire away. His eyes were closed and did not open until he had let off 8 shots. He had not noticed the soldier falling to the ground. He had shot his father 8 times in the chest and stomach. Abdikarim dropped his gun and ran to his father. As he cried over his father, the soldier got on his feet again. He automatically pointed the gun at Dik’s head. But after hesitating for a few seconds, decided not to take the shot, having noticed that this was just a little boy. He just continues on his patrol.

Abdikarim did not move for nearly 10 minutes, but as he heard the sound of gunshots coming up the street. He needed to return to his mother, but he didn’t know where he was. So he just ran. He ran for at least 5 miles before collapsing in exhaustion. He fell asleep inside and abandoned car. He woke up twelve hours later, confused and disoriented. He just started to walk.

Five days later he was picked up by a US convoy patrolling a friendly region of the city. They took him back to the base, where he was kept with the other POWs. A month later he was given to the Italian army, and was put into an orphanage in Sicily. He never saw his mother or his two sister ever again.