QWhat happened to Sgt. Ruiz?
AHe dies of his wounds. He is not seen dying in the film. In the hospital when Captain Steele goes to visit him; Steele looks to the doctor, who shakes his head (suggesting that Ruiz won't make it.) He is listed as one of the 19 soldiers who were killed during the mission in the end credits.
QWhat happened to Todd Blackburn? Did he live or die?
ATodd Blackburn fell from the helicopter as depicted in the film; however, many experts chalk this up to his inexperience rather than incoming RPG fire, which was probably shown to make the moment more dramatic. Blackburn suffered serious injuries, although he recovered relatively quickly. He has no recollection of the events that occurred during the course of the battle or this film. Eversmann even says at the end of the film "I was talking to Blackburn the other day" (presumably after the battle by what he's talking about).
QWhy didn't the Black Hawks carrying the Rangers descend closer to the streets? Why did the Rangers have to "rope down"?
AAccording to the DVD commentary by some of the veterans of the mission, the dust kicked up by the choppers was too thick for the pilots to navigate through. As depicted in the film, the dust is thick but not nearly as much as it was in real life. Also, the top rotor of a Black Hawk is very wide and the space between buildings on the street probably was too narrow. Finally, as the veterans have said, there was much more debris and auto wreckage on the streets than shown, likely making it even tougher for a BH pilot to land or hover close to the ground. Such landings weren't as impossible for the smaller helicopters (the Little Birds), as we see in the film.
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