Michael Durant
Recipient of the Purple Heart medal
Michael John Durant (born July 23, 1961) is an American veteran, former pilot, businessman, author, and former political candidate. He fought in the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu while serving as a U.S. Army pilot, and ran unsuccessfully in the Republican primary for the 2022 United States Senate election in Alabama.
Durant was a member of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Night Stalkers). He participated in several combat operations, including Prime Chance, Just Cause, Desert Storm, and 1993's Gothic Serpent, during which he was held prisoner for 11 days. Promoted from Chief Warrant Officer 3, he retired in 2001 as a Chief Warrant Officer 4 Black Hawk helicopter Master Aviator.
In retirement, Durant published a book detailing his experiences, gave talks, and founded an engineering company in Huntsville, Alabama. He became politically active as a member of the Republican Party.
Early life and military training
Durant was born on July 23, 1961, in Berlin, New Hampshire, the son of Leon Durant and Louise (née Boucher). He enlisted in the U.S. Army in August 1979; after completing basic training, he attended the Defense Language Institute. He was assigned to the 470th Military Intelligence Group at Fort Clayton in Panama as a Spanish voice intercept operator.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q707549. VIAF identifies the subject as 68298966. The Library of Congress control number is n2003004327. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1961, 1993, 2022 and 2001.
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This entry incorporates text from “Michael Durant” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.