Orlando’s Character of Todd Anthony Blackburn

(born 1973) is a former U.S. Army Ranger deployed with B Company, 3rd Battalion, to Mogadishu, Somalia during Operation Gothic Serpent in 1993. He was wounded in action on October 3, 1993, aged 20, during an engagement that would later be known as the Battle of Mogadishu. [edit] Battle of Mogadishu.

Early in the battle, Private First Class Blackburn fell a distance of 70-feet from a Black Hawk helicopter as he was attempting to fast-rope with the rest of his chalk. Blackburn suffered serious head and internal organ injuries in the fall, and was evacuated (MEDEVAC'd) to the Task Force Ranger staging area.

Todd Blackburn --Life after the Army

Blackburn spent two years in recovery and had no recollection of the fall that led to his injuries. After leaving the Army he became a police officer in his native hometown of Pensacola, Florida.