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A senior Afghan government official, speaking anonymously, said that Taliban commander Qari Tahir had fed American forces false information about a meeting of insurgent leaders and fighters waited for the helicopter from both sides of a steep valley: "The Taliban knew which route the helicopter would take. They heard a helicopter coming, they grabbed their RPGs, and they fired in quick succession, Darack said. The quick reaction force included SEAL Team 6 and other special operations personnel. NFTs Simplified > Uncategorized > extortion 17 crash photos. Also if an Afghan soldier member of this team opened fire on this seal team then way was all the bodies Cremated and evidence destroyed?? I will never forget what they did, he said. At 23:30, one of the Apache support helicopters engaged in a brief skirmish with a different group of eight Taliban fighters 400m (440yd) north of the compound, killing six. To find answers to many of the outstanding questions regarding Extortion 17, a congressional oversight committee held a hearing on February 27, 2014. THIS COMBAT MARINE SALUTES YOU ALL WE ALL GET A NEW STATION WHEN GOD OKS OUR TRANSFER I AM QUITE CERTAIN THAT GOD LOVES WARRIORS A BIT MORE THAN WE MIGHT REALIZE, I always suspected ObamaTard had something to do with this tragedy. His account of the brave pilots, crew, and passengers of Extortion 17 . The reality is, every time a helicopter lifts off the ground in a war zone, it might get shot down, Darack said. Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made. [40], In October 2011, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that an investigation following the shootdown concluded "that all operational decisions, linked to the incident, were deemed tactically sound." Cookie Policy Directors Karl Horstmann Stephen Spivey Writer Stephen Spivey Stars Sean Hannity Raj Kala Spec Ops Magazine 2023 All Rights Reserved. When the auto-complete results are available, use the up and down arrows to review and Enter to select. An official investigation found no evidence of a pre-planned ambush, though it did suggest that other helicopter activity in the area could have tipped off Taliban fighters that more helicopters could be approaching, according to the report. Insurgents fired at the Chinook, severed one of. All topics Extortion 17 Documentary Soon after US Navy Cryptologist Michael Strange and the elite SEAL Team 6 capture and kill Bin Laden, they are deployed to Afghanistan, where their Chinook is shot down. Lee earned his wings at Fort Rucker, Ala., then deployed to Pakistan, where he did humanitarian missions, learning to fly into and out of mountainous terrain. Seven Afghan National Army commandos and one Afghan civilian interpreter were also killed in the crash. Spencer C. Duncan, 21, of Olathe, Kan. In 2006, he was called into Afghanistan, where he turned 25. Save up to 30% when you upgrade to an image pack. 2 U.S. Army personnel from the 2nd Battalion, 135th Aviation Regiment, part of the Colorado Army National Guard, PO1 John Douangdara & Navy SEAL Dog Bart, Of the 22 NSW members killed, 17 were SEALs, and five were direct support personnel, according to the source in the NSW community. In The Final Mission of Extortion 17, Ed Darack debunks this theory and others and uncovers the truth behind this mysterious tragedy. The suspicious August 6th, 2011, CH47-D Chinook helicopter crash in Wardak Province, Afghanistan which claimed the lives of 38 American military personnel.Of those 38 lost, 22 were members of Navy SEAL Team 6, the Naval Special Warfare unit responsible for the killing of notorious 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden . Courtesy . For Lee, there was no time to reflect on how close he had come to dying. Hs unit called itself Extortion Company. One of his Chinooks, flying under the call sign Extortion 17 (one-seven), was tasked with the special operations mission the night of Aug. 6. One of the engines flew off, and the other caught fire. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 135th Aviation Regiment (General Support Aviation Battalion), Aurora, Colorado, Chief Warrant Officer Bryan J. Nichols, 31, of Hays, Kan. Commanders frequently request CH-47 Chinooks to insert troops. The crash claimed the lives of 38 personnel, including 22 special operations forces in Afghanistan Aug. 6, 2011. 29 Photos Documentary On a moonless night, an Army helicopter carrying 17 members of the elite Navy SEAL Team 6, the unit that killed Osama Bin Laden, is shot down in Afghanistan. LOL, Ray Williams 509th RRCUV (Army Security Agency) Feb68-Apr71. The group fired two or three RPG rounds from a two-story building, the second striking one of the helicopter's three aft rotor blades. All rights reserved. According to Glover, improved systems in place enable U.S. forces to monitor a target for days or even weeks prior to an operation, so they theoretically will know of even well-hidden potential RPG shooters throughout a village before transport helicopters first touch down. The co-pilot, Bryan Nichols, was one of Lees closest friends in the Chinook company. He was assigned to the 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (General Support Aviation Battalion), New Century, Kansas, Spc. [11] Seventeen U.S. Navy SEALs remained in reserve at the forward operating base. This tactic was highly successful; hundreds of operations were conducted without firing a shot for years. In a new book The Final Mission of Extortion 17 published by Smithsonian Books, journalist and photographer Ed Darack revisits the shootdown of Extortion 17, a Chinook bearing U.S. and . On Aug. 6, 2011, on the deadliest day in special operations history, 30 Americans, including 17 Navy SEALs, died when a Chinook helicopter crashed. The 30 American Servicemen killed in action (KIA) with the downing of Extortion 17. The Afghan soldiers were an essential part of the package; they were trained to move with our forces to the target. He was probably in the top 1 percent of Army aviators, Lee said. In her first interview about the incident, Marquez said: "I had the sensor operators immediately shift to the eight insurgents the helicopters had taken out. John W. Brown, 33, of Tallahassee, Florida, Staff Sgt. On his right wrist, he wears a bracelet with the names of the five crew members of Extortion 17. The men who serve in the American military are the finest! Nothing tests the capabilities of a young helicopter pilot like flying in the extreme conditions of Afghanistan. 1h 33m "A U.S. Army helicopter carrying 30 Americans, most members of the elite Navy SEAL Team 6 is shot down in Afghanistan. Tangi valley remained under Taliban control until April 2013, when more than 1,000 Afghan security forces personnel launched an offensive in an effort to clear the area of Taliban fighters. Operating with no lights save for the faint green glow of night vision goggles and cockpit instrument panels, the two helicopters, call signs Extortion 17 (one-seven) and Extortion 16, lifted into the darkness and accelerated toward a destination less than 20 miles west. To remove the risk of rocket-propelled grenades downing helicopters in Afghanistan 100 percent, youd have to remove the opposable thumbs of every fighting-age male in the objective area, and thats not how we win a counter-insurgency., Ed Darack For helicopter crews in Afghanistan, the most dangerous times are landing and taking off. Immediately after Ryan shared an intimate photo of his own, the cybercriminal demanded $5,000, threatening to make the photo public and send it to Ryan's family and friends. It was the deadliest helicopter crash in the history of U.S. special operations. The insurgents had no way of knowing the helicopter would be coming in, at the speed it was coming and at the altitude, Darack said. The basis of the provocative hit military documentary Fallen Angel Call Sign: Extortion 17. Some sources state that at the shootdown, the two AH-64 Apache helicopters were engaged in tracking another Taliban group and were thus unable to provide surveillance (of the landing zone and infiltration route) and fire support the inbound CH-47D helicopter carrying the Navy SEAL team. The shootdown was the single, deadliest loss of U.S. forces in the war. I had to learn how to land while browned-out, wearing NVGs, on the side of a mountain or an uneven field, Lee said. So much of the war is fought in areas where these helicopters have to fly at high altitudes, where the thin air can strain the performance of the engines and rotor blades, said Ed Darack, author of the recently published book, The Final Mission of Extortion 17: Special Ops, Helicopter Support, SEAL Team Six and the Deadliest Day of the U.S. War in Afghanistan. Extortion 17 August 6, 2022 marks 11 years since Extortion 17. [26], The U.S. military helicopter carrying special operations forces to a night-raid in the Tangi Valley of Wardak Province, was most likely brought down by a rocket-propelled grenade, according to military officials. Rest in peace, gentlemen; you will not be forgotten. [11], At 02:00, the special operations task force commander and the Immediate Reaction Force commander decided to add additional (non-SEAL) reinforcements, increasing the size of the team to 33. Yesterday, the Pentagon released the names of the 30 troops-- Navy SEALs, soldiers, and airmen, killed in the helicopter downed by Taliban fighters in eastern Afghanistan last weekend. The hardest LZ Id ever been into, Lee said. There's also that little issue that came up when 6 Navy SEALs' funerals were conducted by a Muslim Cleric that condemned them to Hell during the service. He would eventually do two tours and become commander of a Chinook unit during his second deployment in 2011. Lee heard the call, and he knew what it meant. Tragically, as Extortion 17 was nearing its landing zone, Taliban fighters, hidden in a building, fired two or three rocket-propelled grenades at close range, leaving the pilot no chance to perform evasive maneuvers. This remains the greatest single loss of life to Naval Special Warfare since the Afghan War started in 2001. The helicopter, call sign Extortion 17, was on a mission to reinforce American and coalition special operations troops. Photo by Jake Simkin for Coffee or Die Magazine. But at least you should care about them and appreciate what were asking of them.. Around 02:23, the two helicopters departed the forward base. All content is protected by copyright and may not be used for commercial purposes without prior written permission. While Benghazi resulted in four American deaths, Extortion 17 resulted in 38 deaths, including nearly two dozen Navy SEALs. [1][2][3][4], The resulting crash killed all 38 people on board including 17 US Navy SEALs, two United States Air Force Pararescue, one United States Air Force Combat Control Team member, one pilot and two crewmen of the United States Army Reserve, one pilot and one crewman of the United States Army National Guard, seven members of the Afghan National Security Forces, and one Afghan interpreter. Daniel L. Zerbe, 28, of York, Pennsylvania. We were on goggles the whole time. As he did, he felt the craft leveling off. Connor Mendez, courtesy of U.S. Army. The vast majority miss. But even a precisely aimed shot fired from an unguided weapon by a seasoned fighter is subject to the ballistics-altering whims of atmospheric variation, subtle and undetected flaws in launcher or projectile, and uncontrollable environmental factors such as wind gusts, large temperature variations, or even particulates in the air. Those killed ranked among the worlds most highly trained and experienced commandos, including 15 men from Gold Squadron of the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, popularly called SEAL Team 6. extortion 17 crash photos. On the Extortion 17 crash, credible journalism was produced on this subject by Ed Darack in his book, "The Final Mission of Extortion 17." The SEALs who died in the crash belonged to Gold Squadron, while the SEALs who killed bin Laden belonged to Red Squadron. Pinterest. Strange, 25, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Special Warfare Operator Petty Officer 1st Class (SEAL/Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist) Jon T. Tumilson, 35, of Rockford, Iowa, Special Warfare Operator Petty Officer 1st Class (SEAL)Aaron C. Vaughn, 30, of Stuart, Florida, Special Warfare Operator Petty Officer 1st Class (SEAL)Jason R. Workman, 32, of Blanding, Utah, Special Warfare Operator Petty Officer 1st Class (SEAL)Jesse D. Pittman, 27, of Ukiah, California, Special Warfare Operator Petty Officer 2nd Class (SEAL)Nicholas P. Spehar, 24, of Saint Paul, Minnesota, Chief Warrant Officer David R. Carter, 47, of Centennial, Colo. The helicopter crashed less than 5 seconds later, killing all 38 people on board. But Tahir and a group of his fighters escaped. While classification veils the specifics of these tactics, particularly for special operations raids, manned gunships can detect potential threats through a range of sensors and immediately attack if needed. Burn is on, they radioed. Troops in Afghanistan Defense Department officials and military leaders testified at a hearing on the investigation of the August 20111 death of 30 U.S. servicemen in. [11] At 22:37 (local time) on the night of 5 August, a platoon of 47 U.S. Army Rangers left a forward operating base in Logar Province via two CH-47D transport helicopters, one of which would later be involved in the accident. Ed Darack March 2015 The Chinook's cargo capacity, speed,. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 135th Aviation Regiment (General Support Aviation Battalion), Grand Island, Nebraska, Sgt. The 30 American Servicemen killed in action (KIA) with the downing of Extortion 17. Baseless Claim That Biden Ordered 'Extortion 17' Three months after the raid that killed bin Laden, Taliban fighters shot down a Chinook helicopter carrying 30 U.S. service members, including. The RPG that struck Extortion 17 threw the helicopter into an uncontrollable spin. Were handing rifles to 20-year-olds and asking them to shoot people. [39], During the same Pentagon news conference in which he announced that the F-16 airstrike had incapacitated "less than 10" of the insurgents involved, International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) commander in Afghanistan John R. Allen said that the military investigation would also review whether small-arms fire or other causes might have contributed to the downing. A chief warrant officer 5, a member of the Colorado National Guard, Carter had over 4,500 flying hours, including more than 1,000 hours during combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am so proud to be an American and I thank all of the families left behind to mourn their loss. One AH-64 crew, after identifying the men as enemy combatants, fired on them with their gunships 30mm cannon, killing six. One rocket struck a rotor blade, causing the aircraft to crash almost instantly. 2023 Smithsonian Magazine [36][37], After the shootdown of Extortion 17, the insurgent responsible used a two-way radio to brag to others about the act. Two investigations of the incident proved inconclusive. Extortion 17 and its 38 occupants would not return. AC-130 gunships orbiting overhead directed two AH-64 Apache attack helicopters to fire on and kill five enemy fighters. They are not the same SEALs, and these two events are not connected to one another. He finished his contract with the Army shortly afterward, and that September enrolled in Southern Methodist Universitys Dedman School of Law. BUT the Chief Command and those who elected him will pay for there failure to seek Yahwahs guidance before going to war or to vote for a new president! These are the words of Billy Vaughn. Call Sign Extortion 17: The Shoot-Down of SEAL Team Six is a 2015 non-fiction expose, written by best-selling author and former U.S. Navy JAG Officer Don Brown, about the 2011 Chinook shootdown in Afghanistan of a United States Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopter. Find the perfect extortion17 stock photo, image, vector, illustration or 360 image. He was assigned to the 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment(General Support Aviation Battalion), New Century, Kansas, Staff Sgt. Eleven U.S. servicemen aboard Extortion 17 entered the military after the 9/11 attacks, answering the call to arms as so many brave Americans have done throughout the history of our great country. Stock photos, 360 images, vectors and videos. This remains the greatest single loss of life to Naval Special Warfare since the Afghan War started in 2001. Qari Tahir, the man our forces were attempting to capture or kill on August 5, 2011, isone of many Taliban leaders who dedicate their lives to a corrupt agenda that seeks to eliminate freedom, equality, and prosperity in exchange for a medieval society built on violent extremism and wanton destruction. When the Boeing CH-47D Chinook helicopter was hit, all 38 onboard were instantly killed. Warnings from her crew to turn the Chinook back or cancel their mission went unheeded. The helicopter made its last radio transmission stating that it was one minute away from the landing zone, then descended to an altitude of 100150ft (3046m) and slowed to a speed of 50kn (58mph; 93km/h) as it approached the landing zone. "Over two years after Extortion 17 was shot down, the families still have these unanswered questions," said Klayman. Or when something went terribly wrong. It is also the most disastrous incident in the. They were part of the same Army Reserve unit, 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment based in Gardner, Kan. Nichols, with three combat tours of duty, also had plenty of experience flying dangerous missions. Naval Special Warfare Development Groups (DEVGRU) Gold Squadron, No Easy Day (detailing his participation in Operation Neptune Spear), Mark Owen, congressional oversight committee held a hearing on February 27, 2014, 7 Afghan National Army Commandos, part of the Afghan National Army. Hi there! As the operation got underway, our airborne Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) platforms, including an MQ-9 Predator, detected a group evading the Rangers, moving towards the north. Approaching to land or having just taken off, the craft is flying slow and low, so it presents a tempting target. There is still a tremendous level of chance for a tragedy of such huge magnitude.. Alexander J. Bennett, 24, of Tacoma, Wash. Among the 38 occupants inside the Chinook were some of the most highly trained and battle-seasoned fighters in the U.S. military, including 15 commandos from the Navys SEAL Team 6, the unit that three months earlier had killed Osama bin Laden. Theyre going after in very hostile environments, who know the terrain very well, who know the battlescape very well, Darack said. For example, on 8 June 2011 another Chinook helicopter was engaged from five to six locations (i.e., points of origin) with 14 rocket-propelled grenades, forcing the crew to abort their mission. All of them were men of courage, integrity, and honor. The crash killed all 38 people on board including 25 American special operations personnel, five United States Army National Guard and Army Reserve crewmen, seven Afghan commandos, and one Afghan interpreter as well as a U.S. military working dog. The helicopter fell from the sky, killing all 38 on board. Published Aug 6, 2018 5:05 PM EDT. Its the worst day in our history by a mile.. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) The downing of a Chinook helicopter gunship (known by its call sign Extortion 17) in Afghanistan on August 6, 2011, has for years been shrouded in mystery, with the . (Smithsonian Books, September 2017). In July 2010, an RPG-wielding fighter put a round into the tail boom of a Marine AH-1W Super Cobra, downing it and killing both pilots. At any moment, they could come under rocket attack. Will this ever be exposed! | READ MORE. He grew up in Tyler, went to Texas A&M;, joined the Corps of Cadets and stared in shock at the news that two planes slammed into the World Trade Center and another into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. U.S. Navy Seals At 2:38 a.m. on August 6, 2011, a U.S. Army Chinook helicopter, call sign Extortion 17, entered the western opening of Afghanistan's restive Tangi Valley, flying alone. The Museum Executive Team worked with these men. Whether enemy fire brought down the Chinook or a tree strike would never be known for sure. Fallen Angel.. The helicopter crashed into a creek bed and a flash flood shortly afterward washed away some parts of the wreckage. We had guys who had flown in Desert Storm, guys who had just come off active duty, Lee said. The official statement from U.S. Central Command stated that a Taliban fighter scored a lucky shot with a rocket-propelled grenade. )/SR-71 blackbird cloud behind the chinook; saying thats safe distance! The torque of the spinning rotor assembly, now catastrophically imbalanced, ripped the rear pylon off the Chinooks fuselage. The SEAL commander assembled his force: 17 Navy SEALs, five Navy combat support specialists, three U.S. Air Force Special Tactics Airmen, seven Afghan Special Forces operators, an Afghan interpreter, and a military working dog. Night Stalker pilots and crew rigorously train for nighttime raids, like the one in Juy Zarin. To lose even one precious life is too many, and the United States lost 38 soldiers that day. Copyright 2023 | National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum, The Museum is a 501(c)(3) organization. That assault team captured Tahirs compound and some of his men.