Operation Vet Fit November 30, 2018

SOMALIA
Operation Restore & Continue Hope: Recalling the
Forgotten Humanitarian Crisis

It’s dark, women and children are screaming and I am unable to find my kids Author: US Marine,
or my wife. I know they’re here, I just saw them next to me and now they’re Dan Gaita
photographed by
gone. I can’t find my truck either and for some reason I am unable to turn on
fellow Marine, Jason
my phone. Nothing is working, even my keys are gone. I can hear my three Masciarelli at the front
children screaming for me: “Daddy! Daddy! help, they took mommy!” Then I gate of the former
wake up, wife safely next to me and my three daughters are safely asleep in Somalia National Army
Barracks, March, 1994

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Operation Vet Fit November 30, 2018

their rooms. For many of us that served on the

ground in Somalia, this nightmare is ours to
keep.

For those of us that served during this brief

episode between 1992-1994, strange
manifestations of our memories play out along
a broad spectrum of unresolved circumstances
deep within our subconscious. Haunting
reminders of the importance of a nation
completing its mission once it begins.

We saw things there that we could do nothing

about. Rape is a cultural norm in Somalia. Still
is today. We could not intervene. Rules of
Engagement would not permit such
“humanitarian” intervention. Even though I was
well within range to let the hammer fall and take
that shot to stop the assault, I was powerless to
make that decision. It was strictly forbidden.

I watched women forced into their grass huts

and men left unconscious outside while their
wife or daughter or sister was raped. Nothing I
could do but hope the person outside the hut The mutilated body of
woke up and took action. Nothing, lifeless. Until the animal was done and a US soldier is
stepped out over the lifeless body of whoever he killed or rapped.
dragged through the
streets of Mogadishu.
We (US/UN Humanitarian forces) were 1993.

neutered animals. Rules of Engagement

would only allow us to fire at the enemy if he
“We were like was pointing his gun or weapon at us. We
were like dogs on a short chain. Powerless to
dogs on a short stop what we had all along been trained to
chain.” destroy.

- DAN GAITA That crippling of the warrior spirit deflated the ego and collective
sense of self worth. The nightmarish visual never ceases to exist in
our dreams. It plays out over and over.

It didn’t really bother me in my twenties. Sure I had nightmares about it. Woke up and thanked God I
was not there. Then I got married and now it was my wife as the victim in the nightmares. That
feeling of powerlessness plays out repeatedly in my dreams and the vivid content would continue to

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Operation Vet Fit November 30, 2018

replicate over time. Slightly

different variations of the same
situations. Each craftily designed
by the unresolved subconscious
memories of the events that had
occurred over 25 years prior. Then
we had children; three daughters.
For each of them, my nightmares
had a special place for them in
Mogadishu. Always the same
narrative; continues to this day.

Regretfully, this “humanitarian

mission” has gradually disappeared
from the American conscious. Having been replaced by the vivid flashbulb memories of September
11th, 2001 and the continuous battles that rage on in Iraq, Afghanistan and across the globe.

Twenty-Five years later, Somalia barely gets a poster

placement in our US Military History museums. Yet it is
carved into the stone of the Marine Corps Monument in
Washington D.C.

Entire chapters of events that occurred there are missing and

seemingly redacted from mention within the history of the
various units that served there.

While at a Tenth Marines rededication ceremony back in

2017, Somalia was never mentioned. I brought this to the
attention of the powers that be and copied several of my
fellow Marines who were there too. Nothing. Like it never
happened. Even though we all know it did.

For most of us, Somalia represented our first experience

being the intended targets of inaccurate enemy sniper fire or
mortar fire. Thankfully, the enemy sucked at both and were
routinely destroyed by our Marine Snipers.

While the United States lost “only” 18 servicemen in Somalia, with “only” 74 wounded, the lessons
and torment of this humanitarian effort are ripe for reevaluation and dissection. If not for future U.S.
Foreign policy decisions, then for those of us that were there so that we can wrap our warped
subconscious around what actually happened and why it haunts many of us to this day -

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Operation Vet Fit November 30, 2018

Contact: dan@operationvetfit.org
About the Author: Daniel R. Gaita, MA, LMSW, the founder, of
Operation Vet Fit, a non-profit 501C(3), combat veterans advocacy
agency recognized by the Department of Veterans Affairs Mental
Health Services for his ground breaking research on combat PTSD
and veteran suicide.

He is a South Carolina Licensed Social Worker specializing in

Mental Health and Military Families; a volunteer research assistant
at the Citadel, inducted into the Phi Alpha Honor Society while a
graduate student at the University of Southern California, is also a
Presidential Management Fellowship Finalist; a participant in
Military Clinical Skills Training and research conducted through the
Center for Innovation and Research on Veterans and Military Families at the University of Southern California.
Dan earned his Bachelors in Psychology from combined studies at the University of Connecticut and Western
Connecticut State University, His first Masters degree in Organizational Leadership at Gonzaga University with
a concentration in Servant Leadership. He recently completed his second Masters degree in Social Work from
combined studies at Fordham University and the University of Souther California.

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