#259 Mike Durant - 160th SOAR Pilot Who Survived Black Hawk Down and 11 Days as a POW

Mike Durant is a retired U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer 4 and Master Black Hawk pilot with the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Night Stalkers). Inspired by his father, a First Sergeant in the Army National Guard, and a family friend’s helicopter flight, Durant enlisted in 1979. After studying Spanish at the Defense Language Institute and serving as a voice intercept operator in Panama, he graduated from flight school at Fort Rucker, Alabama, becoming a Warrant Officer in 1983. He flew over 150 medical evacuation missions in South Korea with the 377th Medical Evacuation Company and later served as an instructor pilot with the 101st Aviation Battalion. Joining the elite 160th SOAR in 1988, Durant flew in Operations Prime Chance, Just Cause, Desert Storm, and Restore Hope. During the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu (Operation Gothic Serpent), his MH-60 Black Hawk was shot down, leaving him severely injured and held captive by Somali militia for 11 days. Despite doctors’ doubts, he...