Michael D . Steele Michael D . Steele is a retired Colonel of the United States Army . He was a company commander in the 3rd Battalion , 75th Ranger Regiment during the Somalia mission Operation Gothic Serpent , which resulted in the now famous book and movie " Black Hawk Down " , where he was portrayed by actor Jason Isaacs . He briefly appears in the documentary " I Am an American Soldier " . He was investigated in conjunction with the murders of three unarmed Iraqis during Operation Iron Triangle . The four soldiers charged in the case testified that Steele had instructed them to " kill all military - age males . Steele denied giving such an order , and was formally reprimanded but not charged . Background . Colonel Steele is from the small northeast Georgia town of Statham . He attended and was an offensive lineman for the University of Georgia Bulldogs football team , during the Vince Dooley era . In 1980 , the Bulldogs were crowned national champions . Upon graduation , Steele was commissioned as an infantry officer through Army ROTC in 1983 . His first assignment was to the Berlin Brigade in West Berlin . Later he received a Master ’ s Degree from Central Michigan University . His military education includes the following : Airborne School , Ranger School , Joint Power Control School , Army Command and General Staff College . Operation Gothic Serpent . In August 1993 , Steele deployed to Mogadishu , Somalia , with his Ranger company as part of Task Force Ranger , which was tasked with capturing two lieutenants of the Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid . Task Force Ranger also included a deployment package from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment ( Night Stalkers ) from Fort Campbell , Kentucky . On the afternoon of 3 October 1993 , Task Force Ranger received intelligence that two leaders of Aidid ’ s militia were at a residence in central Mogadishu . In response , the task force sent 19 aircraft , 12 vehicles , and 160 men to arrest them . During the mission , one of the Rangers , PFC Todd Blackburn , missed the rope whilst fast - roping from an UH - 60 Black Hawk helicopter , and fell 70 feet to the street below , badly injuring himself . At 1542 hours , in Mogadishu , Captain Steele fast - roped into the Bakara Market with 120 Rangers , led by Lt . Colonel Danny McKnight , and approximately 40 Delta Force operators . The raid was to take 30 minutes and was meant to capture Omar Salad and Abdi Hassan Awale , two top advisors to Warlord Mohammed Farrah Aidid . These and other prisoners along with Blackburn were loaded into the vehicle convoy to be transported back to base . However , with the downing of two Black Hawk helicopters , Super 61 ( CW4 Cliff Wolcott ) and Super 64 ( CW3 Mike Durant ) , the mission changed dramatically and for the worse . The Rangers and Delta operators , under the command of CPT Steele , provided security around the crash site of Super 61 and fought off thousands of armed insurgents through the night . After 15½ hours of intense fighting , a convoy of armored vehicles finally arrived to take away the casualties . The Rangers then provided security around the convoy and fought their way out to the relative safety of the Pakistani Stadium , just north of the Bakara Market . The outcome of the raid was 16 Rangers , Delta , and 160th SOAR personnel KIA and 89 WIA . 2 American soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division and one Pakistani soldier were killed in the extraction convoy . One more Delta operator was killed several days later when a mortar round struck the compound of Task Force Ranger . Durant was held captive for eleven days . Anywhere from 700 - 1500 Somali militia were killed . Omar Salad was captured , as was Abdi Hassan Awale , but it was not the right Omar Salad . Captain Steele was awarded the Bronze Star with Valor Device for his actions as a commander during the fight . Steele is the former commander of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team / 187th Infantry Regiment ( Rakkasans ) of the 101st Airborne Division , which returned from a tour of duty in the Salah ad Din province in Iraq in the autumn of 2006 . Operation Iraqi Freedom . Colonel Steele commanded the 3rd Brigade , 101st Airborne Division ( Rakkasans ) from June 2004 through November 2006 . During his command , he oversaw the transformation of the unit from a traditional three battalion infantry brigade into a six battalion infantry brigade combat team composed of two infantry battalions , a reconnaissance squadron , a field artillery battalion , support battalion , and special troops battalion . Colonel Steele and his brigade deployed to Iraq the fall of 2005 and conducted operations primarily in Salah ad Din province . In March 2006 , the brigade planned and executed Operation Swarmer , which was a joint U . S - Iraqi air assault operation targeting insurgents in the desert area to the northeast province of Samarra . According to the US military , it was the largest air assault in Iraq since the start of Iraq War in 2003 . In addition to Operation Swarmer , the brigade conducted numerous other brigade and battalion sized operations including Operation Katrina , Operation Rita , Operations Red Light I , II and III , Operation Swift Sword , Operation Starlight , and Operation Iron Triangle . In November 2006 , Colonel Steele successfully completed his command with the 3rd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division and was assigned as the Deputy G3 , Training , United States Army Forces Command ( FORSCOM ) at Fort McPherson , Georgia , where he coordinates the training for CONUS based Army forces . Iron Triangle Murders . These four soldiers testified that Steele had told them to " kill all military - age males . " Steele refused to testify at the Article 32 hearing for the accused soldiers , which is considered unusual for a commanding officer . He was investigated in connection with the incident and stated that he did not use “ specific language ” to order his soldiers to kill all military - age males , and that “ we don ’ t shoot people with their hands up . ” He was not charged , but was later formally reprimanded by Lieutenant General ( now General ) Peter W . Chiarelli , former commander of the Multi - National Force - Iraq . The reprimand effectively ended Steele ' s future chances of promotion in the Army . The content of the reprimand has not been made public , but two anonymous defense department officials identified by " The New York Times " have said that the reprimand was " for not reporting the deaths and other details of the raid . " Steele also instigated the use of " Kill Boards " to track how many Iraqis each Company had killed , while one of Steele ' s Battalion Commanders ' , Lt . Colonel Nathaniel Johnson , Jr . has written that " Colonel Steele constantly articulated his judgment and displeasure that my battalion was not being aggressive enough toward the insurgents . "