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

The Shawn Ryan Show

Shawn Ryan Show

Society & Culture, Philosophy

4.9 • 38.1K Ratings

🗓️ 4 December 2025

⏱️ 313 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

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 recovered, ran the 1995 Marine Corps Marathon, and returned to duty, retiring in 2001. Mike's awards include: Distinguished Service Medal, Distinguished Flying Cross (second award), Bronze Star w/ Valor device, Purple Heart, Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal w/ Valor device (third award), Army Commendation Medal (fourth award), Joint Service Achievement Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Prisoner of War Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal with Bronze Arrowhead Device (second award), Southwest Asia Service Medal w/ Bronze Service Star, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon (2nd Award), United Nations Medal, United Nations Medal-Operations in Somalia, Kuwait Liberation Medal-Government of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait Liberation Medal-Government of Kuwait, Master Aviator Badge, and Air Assault Badge. In 2008, Durant founded Pinnacle Solutions in Huntsville, Alabama, a defense contracting firm specializing in military training simulators and veteran employment. He co-authored In the Company of Heroes, focusing on survival and leadership. He also led veterans’ efforts for George W. Bush’s 2004 and John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaigns. He ran in the 2022 Republican primary for Alabama U.S. Senate. Married to Lisa, raising a blended family with six children, Durant enjoys mountain climbing, skiing, hockey, watersports, and running. Shawn Ryan Show Sponsors: Receive 30% off your first subscription order. Go to https://armra.com/SRS or enter SRS to get 30% off your first subscription order. Right now, you can try Aura free for 14 days when you visit http://aura.com/SRS Our listeners get 10% off at https://BetterHelp.com/SRS. Head to http://DRINKAG1.com/SRS you’ll get the welcome kit, a Morning Person hat, a bottle of Vitamin D3+K2, and a AG1 Flavor Sampler for free. Mike Durant Links: LI - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-durant-14a0157 Book - https://a.co/d/9OB6ujI SOWF - https://specialops.org/sowf-home-mobile Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Mike Durant. Welcome to the show. Thank you. Pleasure to be here. It's an honor to have you here. It's an honor to have you here. And just like I was telling you on the EDC segment, your name has been percolating around the studio, studios for a couple of years now and um don't you owe
0:24.5	somebody some money or something no actually uh after we interviewed tom satterley uh your name kept
0:32.1	coming up kept coming up and um so i just really is man it's an honor to have you here and I think this is
0:39.5	obviously a very important piece of American history that I would I'm honored to be
0:47.6	able to document so and you know I don't I don't know if this means much but
0:53.4	you know them I don't know if this means much, but, you know, for me, joining the seal teams
0:59.0	and, you know, that whole other life that I did, you know, that was, it was the Vietnam generation
1:07.2	and you guys that motivated me to do that. It was the movies and the stories and,
1:13.5	man. Well, I've heard that a lot, actually. I mean, I think the one universal emotion
1:20.7	when people either watch Blackhawk down or know what happened is anger, just frustration
1:25.2	and wanting to do something about it. And I think that was
1:28.7	really what motivated a lot of people to say, look, you know, I want to get out there and try to
1:33.9	help fix this, you know, get into these organizations and go write these wrongs, I guess,
1:41.7	because there were some wrongs here that, you know, it's pretty
1:45.4	tough to get over. And I appreciate your service as well. Thank you. Thank you. Well, everybody
1:51.9	starts with an introduction here. Mike Durant, retired chief warrant officer four in U.S. Army
1:59.5	helicopter pilot who survived captivity in the
2:02.6	1993 Black Hawk Down incident during Operation Gothic Serpent and Mogadishu, Somalia.
2:10.6	Although doctors said you would never fly again, you proved them wrong, returning to duty
2:14.8	after recovery.
2:17.1	Removed a leg rod in 1995 to run the Marine Corps marathon.
2:21.3	Retired in 2001, your awards include Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart, and Distinguished
	...

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