Tours of Duty

10/04/2026

Thirty-three years ago today, American forces entered a fight in Mogadishu that would become one of the defining battles of the post-Vietnam U.S. military.

Among them was CW3 Michael Durant, a pilot with the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment and today a member of the Tours of Duty Board of Advisors. When his Black Hawk, Super 64, was shot down, Mike survived the crash severely wounded.

Master Sergeant Gary Gordon and Sergeant First Class Randall Shughart repeatedly volunteered to go to the crash site to protect Mike and his crew. They fought until they were killed, sacrificing their lives in an effort to save another American. Both were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

Mike was taken prisoner and held for 11 days before returning home.

For Tours of Duty, his experience carries particular meaning. Our mission is rooted in the belief that when Americans are sent to war, our obligation to them does not end when an aircraft goes down, a position is overrun, or someone becomes missing or captured. We keep looking. We keep fighting for answers. We do not leave them behind.

Today, we remember the 18 Americans who were killed in the Battle of Mogadishu on October 3–4, 1993:

MSG Gary I. Gordon
SFC Randall D. Shughart
SSG Daniel D. Busch
SFC Earl R. Fillmore Jr.
MSG Timothy “Griz” Martin
CPL James E. “Jamie” Smith
SPC James M. Cavaco
SGT Casey J. Joyce
CPL Richard W. Kowalewski Jr.
SGT Dominick M. Pilla
SGT Lorenzo M. Ruiz
SSG William D. Cleveland Jr.
SSG Thomas J. Field
CW4 Raymond A. Frank
CW3 Clifton P. Wolcott
CW2 Donovan L. Briley
SGT Cornell L. Houston Sr.
PFC James H. Martin Jr.

And we also remember SFC Matthew L. Rierson, a Task Force Ranger veteran of the battle who was killed by enemy mortar fire in Mogadishu on October 6.

Thirty-three years later, we remember the men who came home, the men who did not, and the extraordinary lengths Americans went to for one another when everything had gone wrong.

Until They Are Home.

10/02/2026

For decades, this site was lost beneath a changing landscape.

Using historical imagery, field investigation, and LiDAR, Tours of Duty has identified indications of the infrastructure and terrain features associated with the original site, giving our team new places to investigate and new evidence to follow.

For America’s missing, finding the ground is often the first step toward finding the answers.

We’ll also be announcing an important new university partnership soon, one that will deepen the remote-sensing work already central to our investigations and bring additional scientific expertise, analysis, and research capacity to some of our most difficult cases.

Until They Are Home, the mission continues.

10/01/2026

From our first workforce of 25 members using borrowed space in the Pentagon to thousands worldwide today, DIA provides the foundational military intelligence necessary to prevent and decisively win wars.

It is a privilege and an honor to support and defend the United States of America.

09/25/2026

Serious backing. Serious mission. Next stop: the field.

We are proud to announce that Citadel, one of the world's leading investment firms, has made a generous contribution to Tours of Duty, helping fund our next mission as we move toward deployment.

Citadel has built its reputation on exceptional people, sophisticated research, advanced technology, and the determination to tackle complex challenges. Their support is now helping our veteran-led team put those same principles to work in pursuit of a mission that is deeply personal to us: bringing America's missing warfighters home.

To the leadership and team at Citadel, thank you for your generosity and for putting meaningful resources behind our mission. We are incredibly grateful to have your support as we prepare to take the next step.

Until they are home.

09/18/2026

Grateful to General Caine for marking National POW/MIA Recognition Day. His voice on this matters. These men are not statistics — they are Americans who never came home, and remembering them is a duty we all carry. At Tours of Duty, we honor them the only way that counts: by continuing the search. Until they are home.

09/18/2026

The successes in the accounting mission are due in no small part to the DIA’s Prisoner of War and Missing in Action cell, and the Stony Beach team who all too often go unrecognized for their fierce dedication and commitment to finding our POW MIAs. Thank you for your extraordinary efforts.

On Sept. 18th, we honor National POW/MIA Recognition Day – a time to remember American prisoners of war, service members missing in action, and their loved ones.

At DIA, we are proud to support personnel recovery efforts by providing all-source analysis and collection resources worldwide. The Intelligence Community Prisoner of War Missing in Action Analysis Cell at DIA provides decisionmakers a fuller picture of how captured warfighters will be treated, obstacles to recovery and other mission-critical information.

Read more about this unique mission: https://www.dia.mil/Portals/110/Documents/News/IC_POW_MIA_Analytic_Cell.pdf

09/18/2026

We are grateful to AIRTEC for recognizing National POW/MIA Recognition Day by helping shine a light on the mission to account for America’s missing warfighters.

Nearly 81,000 Americans remain missing from our nation’s wars. Bringing them home requires persistence, capable partners, and organizations willing to put real support behind the mission.

AIRTEC’s generosity and support of Tours of Duty helps us continue the work: researching cases, developing leads, deploying veterans into the field, and pursuing answers for families who have waited far too long.

Thank you to the AIRTEC team for standing with us, for helping tell this story, and for supporting the effort to bring our missing warfighters home.

Until They Are Home.

09/18/2026