Lancaster Online
DAN NEPHIN | Staff Writer
Saturday November 12, 2022
Speaking at Lancaster County’s Veterans Day ceremony, retired Army Major Tim Ryan suggested a way to show thanks for veterans: Answer the Soldier's Creed and leave no comrade behind.
“Reach out to our veteran population with more than just words, but with help to those in need of assistance. Even some veterans who are too proud to ask for help. You know who they are. You see the suffering in their faces. You know that it is the right thing to do,” Ryan said Friday at the Lancaster County Government Center.
Ryan, of Manheim, was a platoon leader who participated in the October 1993 rescue mission in Mogadishu, Somalia, on which the book and movie "Black Hawk Down" were based.“One of my deepest regrets is the loss of my first sergeant (Gary Doody), who fought so bravely that night and throughout the entire command. He was awarded two Silver Stars in two separate occasions. He was awarded the Bronze Star for valor. He was awarded the Purple Heart. He was awarded the Combat Infantry badge,” Ryan said.
Last month at a reunion in Fort Drum, New York, for those who participated in the mission, Ryan learned that Doody had died by suicide.
“He had retired, moved back to Northern Michigan and dropped out of contact. Lord knows what tormented his mind. All I can say is that I wish I had kept in touch with my first sergeant. He possessed a warrior spirit. And I like to think that we were kindred spirits. Somehow I feel I let him down. I wish I could claw back the hands of time to rescue him from his feelings of isolation and despair. I wish I had been the one to help,” Ryan said, visibly overcome by emotion.
Ryan then spoke of Operation Green Light, an initiative of the National Association of Counties and the National Association of County Veteran Service Officers designed to raise awareness about challenges veterans face and resources available to help them.
Participants are encouraged to install green light bulbs to raise awareness, and the county is illuminating some clocks green, Commissioner Ray D’Agostino said.
Ryan said veterans “are not looking for a handout. But many who served and lost their way need help getting back on the right track. Together as one, we can begin to help those veterans who have fallen by the wayside to get back on a constructive path in order to become a productive member of society.”
Recounting Mogadishu
Ryan also recounted his involvement in the Mogadishu rescue mission.
Ryan and his unit were in a mess hall, in line for their first hot meal in a week, when he saw a black plume of smoke that sent a chill through him. He saw his battalion runner — a messenger — dashing to headquarters. Ryan told his men to head to their barracks and grab their gear.
The plan was to send in two platoons along with a couple of empty, unarmored five-ton cargo trucks, he said, “and we’re going to drive into the middle of the city, and we’re just going to … pick up the guys, turn around and take them to the airport.”
Ryan said he and his machine gunner stood in the back of the first truck as it made its way to where the trapped soldiers had been ambushed.
“And then we were hit by an ambush as well. So we dismounted (and) we had to fight our way through a far ambush that was becoming a near ambush with indirect fire. … We made it back to the airport where we got the great news that we were gonna go out and do it again. But this time, they had armored personnel vehicles,” Ryan said.
“We fought that night rescuing soldiers, policing up the dead, fighting a rearguard action in order to win our way back to safety, until we finally made it back to the soccer stadium where we finally called mission complete,” Ryan said.
“My platoon, 36 men, was composed of white, Hispanic, Black and Asian soldiers from all over the United States. We were from big cities, small towns, farms and even a homeless shelter. We learned from each other and developed respect for each other and esprit de corps for our unit," Ryan said. "We recognized that we were all different and that we all came from different parts of the country, different backgrounds, with different beliefs, and yet we were united for one purpose. For just the briefest moment, we became the American ideal: e pluribus unum – out of many, one. And together we accomplished one of the greatest rescue missions in the history of the United States.”