Military community remembers Battle of Mogadishu with 15th Annual 5k [Video]

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) — Nearly every member of the Third Ranger Battalion was present in full body armor at Woodruff Riverfront Park.

They were there to honor the service and sacrifice of the soldiers lost in the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia with the 15th Annual Mogadishu Mile 5k Run, a collaboration between Big Dog Running and the Third Ranger Battalion.

“Most people don’t understand freedom’s cost,” said John Burns, a former U.S. Army Ranger. “This event every year reminds me of what it costs us to live the life we have in America.”

In 1993, Burns was in Somalia serving as weapons squad leader of the Bravo Company with the Third Platoon in the Third Ranger Battalion under the 75th Ranger Regiment.

At 5:30 a.m. on Oct. 3, he was in a field hospital recovering from surgery; his brothers in arms were under fire as they attempted to retrieve the bodies of …