Word: brayings
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...bullets ricocheted murderously off the alley walls, the men decided it would be suicidal to remain on the street. Staff Sergeant Jeffrey Bray, 27, kicked in the door of a house, one of several buildings the soldiers would eventually occupy. For the next 12 hours, the pilots of Task Force 160 would provide the only lifeline keeping these besieged Rangers and Delta Force troops alive. Dropping to rooftop level in the face of intense fire, the Little Birds repeatedly emptied their rotating machine guns, then flitted back to the airport. Several pilots flew as many as nine missions...
...plant a tracer round or two in the street. Then the Rangers would call back a correction in aim, sometimes directing fire as close as 15 ft. from their positions, and the gunships would return for a serious pass. As one Little Bird whizzed by, its guns blazing, Bray felt dozens of hot projectiles * striking his body. "I thought I'd had it," he recalled. It took Bray several seconds to realize it was not bullets raining down on him but the brass casings pouring out of the chopper's twin Gatling guns...
Sheltered in a warren of houses and courtyards, Bray and his men now faced another complication: more than a dozen Somali women and children who were huddling, terrified, against the walls. Fearing that if the civilians were released they would either be killed in the street or serve as spotters for Somali sharpshooters, the Rangers corralled the Somalis in a back room. Somalis would later charge that the Americans were using women and children as hostages. In fact, say the soldiers, the reverse was true: "We were under such tight rules of engagement that we couldn't effectively return fire...
...students also have accolades for the officials involved. "I think that we are really, really appreciative of the University and Kathy Bray [Superintendent of Freshman Dormitories and Dudley House] and Kay Millett," said Braun...
...Bray was out of town yesterday and could not be reached for comment...