No matter how skilled the writer of nonfiction, you are always getting the story secondhand. Here's a chance to go right to the source. . . . These men were there.br-MARK BOWDEN from the ForewordbbrbbrIt started as a mission to capture a Somali warlord. It turned into a disastrous urban firefight and death-defying rescue operation that shocked the world and rattled a great nation. Now the 1993 battle for Mogadishu, Somalia-the incident that was the basis of the book and film iBlack Hawk Downi-is remembered by the men who fought and survived it. Six of the best in our military recall their brutal experiences and brave contributions in these never-before-published, firstperson accounts. brOperation Gothic Serpent, by Matt Eversmann As a chalk leader, Eversmann was part of the first group of Rangers to fast rope from the Black Hawk helicopters. It was his chalk that suffered the first casualty of the battle. brSua Sponte Of Their Own Accord, by Raleigh Cash Responsible for controlling and