Critical thinking skills are very
important to understand and know how to do when comparing one source to
another. Being able to think critically allows the researcher to better
understand what it is they are reading as a whole, as well as pick out deeper
meanings within the text that a surface reader wouldn’t normally see. Making connections
between multiple texts allows for a better argument, based on the fact that the
researcher shows that they are knowledgeable on the topic and that they can
easily tie in multiple sources to get their point across in an effective way. On
October 22, 2015, Michael R. Gordon wrote an article, “U.S. Soldier Dies in
Raid to Free Prisoners of ISIS in Iraq,” that talks about how “a member of a
United States special operations team was killed… during a raid to rescue
Islamic State hostages” (Gordon). In Mark Bowden’s Black Hawk Down, a humanitarian mission in Somalia went terribly
wrong when multiple members of Special Forces lost their lives. These two
sources have many similarities in means of context.
Gordon’s article talks about how
there was one casualty during the mission to free prisoners that were held by
Islamic forces. This mission’s casualty might not have been to the extent as
the one seen in Black Hawk Down, but
both of these missions involved members of a United States’ special force to
lose their lives. Special Forces are called in on very serious and cautious missions,
like the two talked about in Black Hawk
Down and “U.S. Soldier Dies in Raid to Free Prisoners of ISIS in Iraq.” Not
only did these missions use Special Forces, they also used two different
threads of forces. In Black Hawk down, the Delta Boys and the Rangers were
brought in to work together on the mission in Somalia, and in “U.S. Soldier
Dies in Raid to Free Prisoners of ISIS in Iraq,” Gordon explains that there
were also two different forces brought in, Kurdish Commandos and American
Special Operations. Having two very distinct groups of military forces helps to
make a better outcome. Both forces share the same basic knowledge of military
training, but have different tactics and special training from one another. Bringing
in two groups that think differently will most likely make for a better
outcome; this way they get a different way of viewing things and incorporate
those ideas to complete the mission.
Another idea that is shared between
these two articles is that they both used different forms of combat throughout
the mission. Both missions used means of ground force and air force to get the
job done in an effective way. Using helicopters helps with surveillance to see
what is going on with the ground forces. When in the helicopter, they can see
what a person on the ground can’t. This way, whoever is in the air can warn
ground forces where the enemy is and even eliminate the enemy before it even
gets to the people on the ground. If one is going to use air and ground forces,
communication is going to be key in order to be effective.
