Pigeons at War

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/mi5-planned-to-use-remote-controlled-homing-1399501

            Technology has advanced communications on the battle field tremendously over time. James Castonguay acknowledged this in  his article Global Media, Communication Technology, and the War on Terror, “From the telegraph, radio, film, and television to the Internet and mobile satellite networks, media and communication technologies have been integral to the waging and representation of war.” Before satellites and radios, how did soldiers communicate with their base camp? Believe it or not, homing pigeons were a reliable and important tool in communication.

http://www.war44.com

       
          Homing pigeons are remarkable in the way they can return to their home loft. They can fly for long distances and periods of time. They are also quick birds, which made shooting them down very difficult. According to Pigeons In War, “Pigeons carried their messages either in special message containers on their legs or small pouches looped over their backs.” Soldiers carried the pigeons in baskets or portable lofts. During WWI over 100,000 pigeons were used for messaging and in WWII over 250,000. They were used because man-made communication technologies were still basic and not very reliable. Amazingly, the article Pigeons and World War One reports that these winged messengers reached their destination ninety five percent of the time.

http://www.pigeonsincombat.com/film.html

         These pigeons often saved lives and were given medals for their bravery and war efforts.  Americans at War tells the story of a pigeon named Cher Ami.  He delivered twelve important messages during his time and saved 194 lives his final flight. In October 1918 a group of American soldiers were trapped and being fired upon by German soldiers.  They had no working radios and needed help. Cher Ami was sent with a message pleading for help. He flew twenty five miles in twenty five minutes. During the flight he was shot in the chest and lost one of his legs. He still managed to reach his destination, saving the lives of the soldiers and received the French Croix de Guerre for his bravery. Cher Ami is number four on TIMES list of top 10 heroic animals.  
         
         These pigeons were remarkable animals. They were reliable and delivered messages very quickly. Also some pigeons, even when shot and injured, still got their message to the destination. Because of the extreme conditions, some of the pigeons deliveries were acknowledged with medals of valiantly.  While it seems like such a simple and rudimentary was to communicate they were actually dependable. Could you imagine sending an animal most people consider not very intelligent with life or death information into a war zone?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-02/pigeon-remains-reveal-coded-war-message/4349146

Lost the Battle, Lose the War?

                 The movie Black Hawk Down tells the story of the Battle of Mogadishu, which was considered a huge military failure.  According to Military History Online ,  “Expecting a two-hour daylight mission, the Rangers ignored Murphy's Law, ‘Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.’ Leaving behind night vision devices (NVD's), body armor and even water, they opted to carry extra ammunition. This decision proved fatal to many.” Over assumptions of victory made this mission seem like a complete failure.  In the end two black hawk helicopters went down and nineteen American soldiers lost their lives. However, the mission was actually a success in some ways.  Mickey Kaus states in his article What Black Hawk Leaves Out, “The Rangers in fact succeeded in snatching and imprisoning the two Somali clan officials they were after.” This fact is often overlooked due to American casualties being so much higher than expected

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265086/

    

            The press used this battle as a catalyst for pulling America out of the war in Somalia. Newspapers printed pictures of soldier’s bodies being mutilated and dragged through the streets.  Dominic Tierney from the The Atlantic reported, “Press coverage was dominated by visceral images of mutilated American corpses. Journalists sometimes ignored the bigger picture, including pro-American demonstrations in Somalia, and successful efforts to save lives and restore order outside of the capital.” These pictures infuriated the nation and made people question why we were even in Somalia. Because of the negative view of The Battle of Mogadishu, Washington pulled soldiers out of Somalia.

        

           The way Americans viewed the war in Somalia affected our involvement in other countries. The book, Black Hawk Down Mogadishu 1993 makes the statement, “After the Mogadishu raid, America withdrew largely from Africa and became more skeptical of direct involvement in unstable nations. The fight for Mogadishu literally changed American foreign policy, especially in Africa, for years.” Somalia was used as an example for what could happen when military was sent into unknown countries. America continues to second guess interfering in other countries wars.

Before the Battle of Mogadishu the war in Somalia was going well. Tierney continued to testify that soldiers were achieving their goals of ending the famine. They were training local police and building and repairing public places. The Battle of Mogadishu destroyed all hopes of the humanitarian efforts in Somalia. After one lost battle soldiers were pulled out and Somalia was left to figure things out on their own. Somalia would also continue to be a reference for future America involvement in other countries.