Gold Star widow pens book about Puyallup Green Beret killed in Niger
In October 2017, Puyallup native and Green Beret Staff Sgt. Bryan Black was one of four U.S. soldiers killed in Niger when a special forces team was ambushed by militants aligned with the Islamic State.
Nearly four years later, Michelle Black, 43, Bryan’s widow, is the author of a new book that questions the explanation provided by Army leaders of the events that led to her husband’s death.
“I kept thinking, the military will bring us the truth and that will bring me some peace,” Black told The News Tribune. “But then we were briefed, and I was left with more questions than answers. I felt like the briefing team wasn’t being honest with us.”
Black moved her family to Puyallup a year after her husband’s death to remain close with her husband’s family. She said when she set out to write a book about her late husband, she wanted to do it as a gift to her children, Issac, 13, and Zeke, 15.
“I know how important knowing your dad is so, I thought, I’m going to self-publish a book of stories about their dad so they can learn about who he was,” Black said. “But as I began to write, it really helped me process what was going on, and by that time it had become a big national story.”
The families of the men killed in the ambush have long criticized the way U.S. Army Africa Command handled the investigation into the ambush. After continually reading stories that painted the soldiers as “cowboys” and accused them of “going rogue,” Black decided to write about what happened to her husband and the other members of his unit.
In 2018, AFRICOM’s chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Roger Cloutier announced the findings of the investigation, saying the direct cause of the attack in Niger was that “the enemy achieved tactical surprise” and U.S. forces were outnumbered three to one. The investigation had 23 findings; however, most were not made public.
In an unclassified summary, investigators wrote that the team did not complete the “necessary mission rehearsals, nor had they done the work to socialize and integrate with the Nigerien partnered forces” prior to the mission. They also found that the team commander and company-level commander mischaracterized the mission in official Army paperwork.
“It was when the commander of AFRICOM, General Waldhauser, got up to brief the media and said all the teams on the continent were performing well but added that my husband’s unit was not indicative of what special operators do,” Black said. “In one fell swoop, he dishonored my husband and all those who fought and died with him.”
For the book, Black interviewed members of Bryan Black’s unit who survived the attack in Niger, their commander and the former commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command Africa, among others, and compared their interviews with the final redacted report, headcam footage and written reports of individual soldiers’ actions, all provided by the Army.
“I don’t think anybody was really taking me seriously when I said I was going to write a book,” Black said. “I just wanted to go above and beyond for Bryan and the other soldiers and their families. I wanted to bring them the honor they deserve.”
Black’s book, “Sacrifice: A Gold Star Widow’s Fight For The Truth,” was published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House, on May 4, 2021.
This story was originally published May 30, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
