a bit dated

Yes; the point is the Somalis were terrible at aimed shooting & did that 'West African gangsa gunfighting' style of shooting, so the American Rangers (and the Deltas) basically stayed in the open to return fire until the militias were able to mass more shooters.

As has been mentioned by both the soldiers on the ground that day, Aidid's militia weren't even in the slightest trained in tactical shooting. Anyone who was willing to join Aidid was given free Khat (a stimulant that makes you feels invincible like coke) and food for their families.

They were simply as it's known is "spraying and praying", they're weren't even using the Iron Sights on the AK Variants and were firing on Full Auto making them any round after the first 3 off target because of the muzzle climb. As perfectly shown in the movie the Somalis were sticking their AKs over walls and out of doorways at the oncoming Convoys "praying" they'd hit the target.

Compare that to the Rangers who are carrying the M16A2 which doesn't have Full Auto but only safe-semi-3 round burst and when low on ammo were only shooting at targets they could hit! Also firing back back when the Somali's were reloading. There was no Technicals nor Recoilless Rifles used by the Somalis in The Battle of Mogadishu that afternoon and and into the next day! Technicals before Operation Gothic Serpent were parked in garages because helos had a free Rules of Engagement to shoot and destroy Technicals on site!

I think the Deltas said to stay away from the walls.

I can see one reason not to hug the walls as an RPG-7 hitting the wall next to you could cause you to be buried under rubble however without using the cover or concealment of hugging the wall it could leave you out in the open...

Actually, the Battle of Mogadishu was a considerable learning moment for the military. After this, significant resources went into modern urban warfare training, in other words, how to fight within cities.

Never again would anyone go out on any missions without full body armor and all other accouterments.

How General Garrison and his Colonels let his soldiers go out into a hostile, heavily armed part of Mogadishu in the mid afternoon (when they are high on Khat and could coordinate a quick response) in thin skinned High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWV) and no armored cupola to protect the .50 cal gunner is unbelievable especially two years after the urban battles in Kuwait City in the 1991 Gulf War! I know it was supposed to be a quick 30 minutes snatch and extract but I don't know if all the contingencies were taken into account

So it took the deaths of 19 soldiers and 80 odds wounded to produced the "up- armored" M1114 Humvee in 1996 with the Armor Survivability Kit (ASK). This design is superior to the M998 with a larger, more powerful turbocharged engine, air conditioning, and a strengthened suspension system. More importantly, it boasts a fully armored passenger area protected by hardened steel and bullet-resistant glass.

Conventional "Un-armored" Humvees, some even without doors were successful in the initial years of Operation Enduring Freedom/Afghanistan before IEDs came into play however once the 2003 Iraq War started they were really left vulnerable to IEDs; in the first four months of 2006, 67 U.S. troops died in Humvees. Mainly in Urban Battles and well shown in Generation Kill Thus the Army and US Marine Corps started going with more survivable MRAPs.

Even with the different ASKs for the HMMWVs and TUSKs (Tank Urban Survival Kit) on M1 Abrams MBTs are still both vulnerable to top down attacks from RPGs fired from rooftops in urban areas. Especially the RPG-29 which is an anti-tank/anti-bunker round has a tandem-charge HEAT warhead and has taken out several Abrams in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom!

If you are not willing to give up everything, you have already lost

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