Full pews at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground (YPG) Halo Chapel greeted Army Ranger Hall of Fame inductee Jeff Struecker as he made a highly anticipated presentation the evening of June 4.
Before going to seminary and being commissioned as an Army chaplain, Struecker received a Silver Star for his actions at the Battle of Mogadishu famously portrayed in Black Hawk Down.
What began on October 3, 1993 as a straightforward helicopter raid to capture two high-ranking lieutenants of a brutal Somali warlord became the longest and deadliest sustained firefight American forces had engaged in since the Vietnam War. The intense overnight battle between American forces and thousands of Somali National Alliance members and volunteer insurgents armed with AK-47s and rocket propelled grenades resulted in 18 American dead and more than 80 seriously wounded.
Then-Sgt. Jeff Struecker was the squad leader in the lead High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) in a ground support convoy that ended up extracting the wounded, making multiple trips through harrowing fusillades of enemy fire. The famously intense movie adaptation of the book 'Black Hawk Down' didn’t fully capture the unrelenting violence American forces encountered. When machine gunner Sgt. Dominick Pilla was killed by enemy gunfire inches behind Struecker during the first casualty extraction, Struecker told attendees an earnest prayer in the worst moment of his life steadied him to return into the crucible again and again to seek out more American wounded. It eventually inspired him to become an Army chaplain. By the time of his retirement in 2011, he had made 17 combat deployments in conflicts ranging from the capture of Manuel Noriega in Panama in 1989 to multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.
YPG Chaplain (Maj.) Ryan Pearse, who formerly worked for Struecker, made extensive efforts to bring him to the chapel and publicize his visit to the broader Yuma community.
“He’s got a great story, and I just wanted people to hear that story,” said Pearse. “He’s a great speaker with a great testimony: I’ve heard it before, but I was excited to hear it again.”
Religious services have been a source of strength and solace to Soldiers in all conflicts, and Struecker’s ministry has resonated for decades within the Army. James Branch, a retired Army Maj. and former commander of the Military Freefall School at YPG who today leads Yuma High School’s Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, attended the event because he had Struecker as a chaplain while serving in Afghanistan in 2002.
“His sermons were awesome,” said Branch. “He was the most highly decorated chaplain I’ve ever seen. He made a big impression, for sure.”
Army veteran and current Yuma City Councilman Mark Martinez, an Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran and Bronze Star recipient, missed the event due to a city council meeting taking place simultaneously, but has long admired Struecker’s writings. A friend obtained an autographed copy of one of Struecker's books for him at a meet-and-greet opportunity in the chapel's fellowship hall for attendees prior to his presentation.
“We always said a prayer before we left the wire, and I think it’s because of Mr. Struecker,” said Martinez. “He’s an inspiration for Soldiers that go downrange. He made it okay to pray—I can’t appreciate him enough.”
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