Published to mark the battle 's 25th anniversary in October 2018, this new book is the definitive history of Operation Gothic Serpent. Focusing on the stories of the soldiers on the ground, and in the air, who fought during the infamous Day of the Ranger ', as the Somalis referred to the battle, this book reveals the experiences and recollections of the Special Forces units who were involved including the Rangers, Delta operatives and Nightstalker crews. Each stage of the battle is documented in detail and accompanied by a series of detailed maps and technical illustrations clearly illustrating and explaining the action for the reader. Unlike previous books on the subject, Leigh Neville provides a detailed look at the organizations involved, on both sides, and the weapons and equipment employed in the battle including, crucially, a critique of what worked and what didn 't. There is also a detailed analysis of the combat tactics employed by both the US forces and the Somalis on the ground, revealing in detail what a state of the art close-quarters battle looked like in 1993. Using recently declassified documents and new interviews with many of the participants, Day of the Ranger, is a fascinating and revealing new history of a battle that would influence American Special Forces for decades to come.
