Photo By Airman 1st Class Owen Davies | Retired U.S. Army Maj. Chaplain Jeff Struecker speaks to service members, civilians...... read more read more
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Tasked with aiding in the capture of two of Somali National Alliance’s top lieutenants who were attending a meeting deep in Mogadishu, Somalia, 1993, U.S. Army Sgt. Jeff Struecker, 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, would soon find himself in a capture mission turned rescue operation.
During the initial raid on the target building holding the high value targets themselves, Pfc. Todd Blackburn fell 70 feet to the ground while fast-roping. Blackburn had sustained critical injuries and needed to be brought back to base so that he could receive immediate care.
“As soon as I showed up to my position with the Humvees, my battalion commander, U.S. Army Col. Danny McKnight, was calling on the radio saying, 'Jeff, I need you to get to Blackburn's fighting position,'” said Struecker. “‘I need you to put him on the Humvees and I need you to take him back to the unit surgeon. It doesn't look good.’”
He and his troops made their way back to the base under heavy enemy fire, carefully driving through the streets so as to not further injure Blackburn. U.S. Army Sgt. Dominick Pilla, on the convoy, was shot and killed, making him the first American death in the conflict. When Struecker returned to base, he was informed that two of the UH-60L Black Hawks had been shot down; he needed to go back out and rescue the remaining crew members. There was already a search-and-rescue team moving to the first crash site, so Struecker was tasked to go to the second one.
“ I'm on the back of this Humvee, and I am scared to death, and I'm starting to freak out a little bit,” said Struecker. “ And that is the moment where my faith stepped in and it took over, and it got me through the next 18 hours.”
Jeff Struecker came to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson to speak to the community and share his story about his experiences in Somalia and becoming a chaplain. He spoke of resiliency and how important spiritual fitness alongside physical fitness are to service members, especially those stationed up here in Alaska.
The Comprehensive Airman Fitness and the Comprehensive Soldier Fitness models both outline the approach for total Airman and Soldier fitness and resiliency. CAF involves the four pillars which are physical, mental, social, and spiritual fitness and the CSF focuses on preserving resilience through those four pillars as well as a family pillar. Having faith directly contributes to having spiritual fitness and it helped Struecker through the moments when he needed it most.
“ More than anything, I want people to know that I'm just a dude like they are and I really want them to go away with a sense of hope.” said Struecker. “ If I could go through what I went through, being just a guy just like them, then they can go through whatever they're facing right now, or whatever they might end up facing in the future, both in garrison and training, but also, God forbid, in combat.”
Being stationed in Alaska can be difficult for service members due to the decreased amount of sunlight and the dropping temperatures during the winter, and for those who are coming here for the first time.
“We have young Soldiers and Airmen coming up here all the time who don't know these stories,” said U.S. Army Chaplain Maj. John McDougall, 673d Air Base Wing operations chaplain. “The battle of Mogadishu was thirty-two years ago this October and this is a great way to remember these stories and help prepare for the next fight.”
Maintaining spiritual fitness is an integral part of the CAF and the CSF, and Jeff’s story is a reminder of that. Through his faith and training he was able to survive the many battles he went on to face and used his past experiences to help reinforce service members’ spiritual fitness.
“A lot of combat veterans will come and speak with us and somehow, some way, they always seem to come around to faith,” said U.S. Army Spc. Zachariah Messier, Bravo Company, 1st 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 11th Airborne Division. “And faith being the most important part in the lives of those who have gone through hard things in the military.”
| Date Taken: | 03.10.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 03.11.2025 11:43 |
| Story ID: | 492451 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, ALASKA, US |
| Web Views: | 112 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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