Bill and Tommy were the crew chiefs aboard, the door gunners.
Mike joined me and orbited for just a few minutes before he was hit, too.
He and Ray Frank, the copilot, maintained control and tried to make it back to the airfield.
They got about a mile away when the tail rotor came apart and they crashed.
The first convoys that attempted to reach them came under heavy fire and turned back.
My aircraft was it.
I dont know whether it was Tommy or Bill.
But a rocket-propelled grenade hit us just moments later, before anyone could be extracted.
When we got hit, I just remember feeling awful and again helpless.
We made a controlled crash.
I had minor shrapnel wounds.
Our third sniper, Brad Halling, had lost his leg to the RPG.
One crew chief had been shot through the arm; my other chief had a concussion.
I got back to the airfield, swapped with another pilot and flew the rest of the night.
Yacone, 52, was awarded the Silver Star for his heroic attempts to save his comrades in Mogadishu.
He is now director of operations for SANS Institute, a cybersecurity company headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland.
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