That assault team captured Tahirs compound and some of his men. Petty Officer 1st Class Aaron Vaughn was one of the SEAL Team 6 operators who died in the crash. 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. Editor's Note: On August 6, 2021, 30 American military servicemen and a U.S. military dog were killed when a CH-47 Chinook helicopter - call sign Extortion 17 - was shot down in Afghanistan. Because unarmed villagers, unaffiliated with the Taliban, could also have been in those trees and among the groups milling about the village, the gunships could not have fired. As the Chinook CH-47 transport helicopter (call sign: Extortion 17) carrying 30 U.S. troops, seven Afghan commandos, an Afghan civilian interpreter and a U.S. military dog approached, the. Find the perfect extortion 17 stock photo, image, vector, illustration or 360 image. Editors note: This story originally appeared in October 2017. Learnt of this today, very surprising after ladens raid was covered in the media here. [25][original research? Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made. At 31 U.S. military personnel killed, the shoot down of Extortion 17 represents the greatest single-incident loss of U.S. lives in Operation Enduring Freedom - Afghanistan, surpassing the 16. On the anniversary of the Extortion 17 tragedy, we remember the heroic men who were felled rushing into battle, as they had done hundreds of times . )/SR-71 blackbird cloud behind the chinook; saying thats safe distance! On this night, Aug. 6, 2011, something went terribly wrong. On such missions, the Chinook pilots nearly always fly at night, wearing night vision goggles, or NVGs. Copyright 2023 | National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum, The Museum is a 501(c)(3) organization. In order to prevent this, American forces called in for support. Missions like this one to insert or remove an assault force are the military equivalent of a perfect 10 in the Olympics equal parts skill, experience and daring. The crash is referred to as Extortion 17 by the callsign of the CH-47 Chinook helicopter involved in the crash. [11][24] These reports were erroneous; the CH-47D airframe does not contain flight recorders, although the MH-47 variant does have a flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder. She had just given birth to their first child. Its crazy how many times I can think of where me or the guys I was with had to do that.. There was a lot of experience in that cockpit, the flight engineers and the door gunners. The shootdown was the single, deadliest loss of U.S. forces in the war. [29], Other reports alleged that the Taliban had laid an elaborate trap for American special-operations forces, luring them in with false information. "[30], On 12 August 2011, Jim Lehrer of the PBS NewsHour announced that he would report the Honor Roll at the end of the program with names and photographs of all 30 men. You also want to come in from a different direction for the element of surprise.. He would not have hesitated to fly with any of them. Cookie Settings, 5,000-Year-Old Tavern With Food Still Inside Discovered in Iraq, Archaeologists Discover Wooden Spikes Described by Julius Caesar, The Surprisingly Scientific Roots of Monkey Bars, Kids Start Forgetting Early Childhood Around Age 7, Artificial Sweetener Tied to Risk of Heart Attack and Stroke, Study Finds. This tactic was highly successful; hundreds of operations were conducted without firing a shot for years. The tempo of the missions did not decrease. As he did, he felt the craft leveling off. The helicopter crashed less than 5 seconds later, killing all 38 people on board. Sat 6 Aug 2011 19.08 EDT. The landing zone had been examined for a previous mission but had not yet been used. That's the only route, so they took positions on either side of the valley on mountains and as the helicopter approached, they attacked it with rockets and other modern weapons. Theres no precedent for this. [11] Seventeen U.S. Navy SEALs remained in reserve at the forward operating base. 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. A junior, he was ready to fight, but the war would be over, he figured, before he even got out of college. The crash sent shock waves throughout U.S. special operations. 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 hardest LZ Id ever been into, Lee said. Also very suspicious that the only member of Seal Team Six that is still alive and in the public sphere happened to be the guy that killed Bin Laden?? 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. The Final Mission of Extortion 17: Special Ops, Helicopter Support, SEAL Team Six, and the Deadliest Day of the U.S. War in Afghanistan Hardcover - September 19, 2017 by Ed Darack (Author) 223 ratings Editors' pick Best History See all formats and editions Kindle $13.99 Read with Our Free App Audiobook $0.00 Free with your Audible trial Hardcover 5 U.S. On this day 11 years ago, 30 American military servicemen and a U.S. military dog were killed when a CH-47 Chinook helicopter-call sign Extortion 17-was shot down in Afghanistan. Theyre going after in very hostile environments, who know the terrain very well, who know the battlescape very well, Darack said. Austin Williams visits the gravesite of U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Christopher C. Campbell in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day, May 30, 2016. He taught helicopter pilots how to fly in high altitudes at an aviation training site in Colorado. Andrew W. Harvell, 26, of Long Beach, California, Tech. Lightboxes. The two may have been those who escaped Apache cannon fire, or they may have split away from either of the groups that formed after the start of the raid. [39], Following the withdrawal of U.S. forces in April 2011, Tangi valley became a major staging area for attacks on Kabul (located just 60 miles away). LOL, Ray Williams 509th RRCUV (Army Security Agency) Feb68-Apr71. Burn is on, they radioed. Ill try to reply the best I can. Whether enemy fire brought down the Chinook or a tree strike would never be known for sure. He was too busy. We were on goggles the whole time. [43][44], American rules of engagement were tightened by Gen. Stanley McChrystal in 2009 in order to improve American counterinsurgency strategy. Were handing rifles to 20-year-olds and asking them to shoot people. This remains the greatest single loss of life to Naval Special Warfare since the Afghan War started in 2001. At any moment, they could come under rocket attack. Hi there! Soldiers killed in Chinook shot down on Saturday came from 24 U.S. states First full list of names, ages and hometowns revealed - 17 were Navy SEALs Eye witnesses to the crash describe seeing. The Chinook helicopter they were aboard was shot down by . ", "Taliban laid trap for Chinook: official", "Honor Roll: Remembering the 30 U.S. All of them were men of courage, integrity, and honor. Your Privacy Rights The helicopter, call sign Extortion 17, was on a mission to reinforce American and coalition special operations troops. The men who serve in the American military are the finest! Nichols had deployed three times to combat zones, and Carter, with more than 4,000 hours of flight time, was one of the most experienced helicopter pilots in the U.S. military. About a dozen of the 33 troops in the back of the helicopter suffered broken bones, heavy bruises and scrapes. Six weeks later, at around 10:40 p.m., an assault team of Army Rangers and Afghan special operations forces were dropped into an LZ on a mission to capture or kill a Taliban commander named Qari Tahir, who had been responsible for a series of attacks and ambushes in the Tangi Valley, not far from Shank. 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. When the auto-complete results are available, use the up and down arrows to review and Enter to select. [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. August 6, 2017 marks six years since 30 American military servicemen and a U.S. military dog were killed when a CH-47 Chinook helicopter call sign Extortion 17 was shot down in Afghanistan. [11], The mission was deemed high risk; two AH-64 Apache helicopters, an AC-130 gunship, and other additional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft supported the troop transports on their approach and remained with the ground forces afterwards. The helicopter fell from the sky, killing all 38 on board. There is still a tremendous level of chance for a tragedy of such huge magnitude.. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. A Department of Defense official asserted that there were no leaks from the Afghans. Campbell was one of 30. They reached the site at 04:12 and found no survivors. Alexander J. Bennett, 24, of Tacoma, Wash. Early life As the ground assault force rushed toward Tahirs compound, Extortion 17 and 16 sped back to base, where they were refueled, and awaited word to extract the team, evacuate wounded, or race reinforcing troops to Juy Zarin. [42], In 2017, Air Force captain Joni Marquez, the firing officer on an AC-130 gunship that had accompanied Extortion 17 on the final flight, made a similar claim. During the Ranger insertion earlier that night, the CH-47D had approached from the south; this time, it approached from the northwest. [45] McChrystal cited a previous "overreliance on firepower and force protection" and the need to reduce civilian casualties and win the cooperation of the local population. No one is planting victory gardens, and were not rationing. And to this day, people are still debating what really happened. Directors Karl Horstmann Stephen Spivey Writer Stephen Spivey Stars Sean Hannity Raj Kala Available for both RF and RM licensing. Extortion 17 was attached to a mission to capture or kill a senior Taliban leader, Qari Tahir, near Kabul, Afghanistan. NFTs Simplified > Uncategorized > extortion 17 crash photos. In March 2002, two MH-47s were downed by machine gun and rocket-propelled grenade fire while close to ground level. But the CH-47D has neither a flight nor voice recorder, only an engine performance data recorder for maintenance. And thats fine; thats what you signed up for, Lee said. [34] Kevin Sieff and Greg Jaffe of The Washington Post reported that U.S. officials confirmed the deaths, including 22 SEALs. Connor Mendez, courtesy of U.S. Army. Classified reports, published by Wikileaks, teem with notes from pilots and crew of all types of military helicopters who saw RPG attacks throughout the war. It also became one of the most devastating death tolls of the U.S. Special Operations Forces. When asked what lessons Americans can draw from the crash of Extortion 17, Lees answer is simple: Americans should care about what happens in Afghanistan because theyve sent Americans to war there. Patrick D. Hamburger, 30, of Lincoln, Neb. And I condemn anyone who would dare denigrate the flag of the greatest country in the world which is made so by the heroic actions of these great men. As Extortion 17 moved into final approach of the target area at 0238 local time, the Rangers on the ground watched in horror as it took a direct hit from an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade). He was assigned to the 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (General Support Aviation Battalion), New Century, Kansas, Tech. The 30 American Servicemen killed in action (KIA) with the downing of Extortion 17. Through the goggles, the landing zone shone brilliantly. 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. [11], In 2013, Congressman Jason Chaffetz said that he would hold an investigation of the United States House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security into the matter. At 02:15, one group of three Taliban fighters took a position in a stand of trees; the remaining six or seven men entered a building located some 2km (1.2mi) from the target compound. The crash occurred in Tangi Joi Zareen, in the district of Sayd Abad in Wardak Province after it was struck by an. There are a lot of bullets out there that say To whom it may concern,says Major Doug Glover, a U.S. Marine F/A-18D weapons and sensors operator who was a senior watch officer for the Marine air operations center in southern Afghanistan. What are the odds? Intelligence on August 6th indicated Qari Tahir was in Tangi Valley, just a short helicopter flight from the SEAL base camp. On Aug. 6, 2011, insurgent forces in Afghanistan shot down an American aircraft. The circumstances surrounding the events of Extortion 17 are tragic. 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. [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. Thirty Americans perished in the blink of an eye, half of which comprised an entire 'troop' from SEAL Team 6's Gold Squadron. This would not be the first time that an Afghan military member has been an undercover Taliban Terrorist and shot our US Military! 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. As they made their approach, there was a line of thunderstorms nearby. The SEALs who assaulted Osama bin Ladens compound were drawn from Naval Special Warfare Development Groups Red Squadron, according to several sources in the special operations community.. 3 U.S. Army Reserve personnel from the 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment. The mission was flown by conventional pilots flying unmodified CH-47Ds. Three hours after disembarking from the Chinooks, the assault force had secured the compound and detained a number of Tahirs men, but they hadnt found Tahir himself. May God give them the strength to carry on without them. Privacy Statement The mission had begun about four hours prior to the shootdown, when the two helicopters touched down side by side in Juy Zarin, a village in the bare rock-walled Tangi Valley of Wardak Province. Winds whipped through the fir trees. On his first deployment, he felt fortunate to be surrounded by veteran pilots he could learn from. All rights reserved. Chance is still part of the battlefield, says Brady. The torque of the spinning rotor assembly, now catastrophically imbalanced, ripped the rear pylon off the Chinooks fuselage. The resulting explosion destroyed the aft rotor assembly. In March 2009, the U.S. 10th Mountain Division established a base in Tangi Valley after increased Taliban activity in the area. [11], By 16:25, all of the remains were taken from the crash site via ground convoy and transported to Combat Outpost Sayyid Abad. Less than five seconds after the RPG round hit, the helicopter spun uncontrollably, plummeting into a dry creek bed and erupting in a ball of fire that killed all on board. But over time, they became more disturbing, including one that suggested the Taliban had been tipped off by someone inside the Afghan government as revenge for bin Ladens killing. And why was the fire control officer of the AC-130 Gunship flying above denied permission . On 6 August 2011, a U.S. CH-47D Chinook military helicopter operating with the call sign Extortion 17 (pronounced "one-seven") was shot down while transporting a Quick Reaction Force attempting to reinforce a Joint Special Operations Command unit of the 75th Ranger Regiment in the Tangi Valley in Maidan Wardak province, southwest of Kabul, One of the engines flew off, and the other caught fire. Air Force C-17 Crashes Just After Takeoff in Alaska | Dangerous Aerobatics (With Real Video) TheFlightChannel 2.1M views 1 year ago Feature History - Chinese Civil War Feature History 1.9M views. Our area of operation was the entire country of Iraq, and every mission was at night, says David Pat Gates, a pilot with Carters unit , the 2nd Battalion, 135th Aviation Regiment (2-135th), a Colorado Army National Guard unit based in Aurora, Colorado. Are all DEVGRUs saved in a sperm bank? [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. A few minutes past 2 a.m.on August 6, 2011, at a dusty forward operating base40 miles south of Kabul, Afghanistan, the rotors of two U.S. Army CH-47D Chinooks began to turn. This remains the greatest single loss of life to Naval Special Warfare since the Afghan War started in 2001. Cart. But at least you should care about them and appreciate what were asking of them.. [9][11], Around 02:38, the helicopter was fired upon and shot down by a previously undetected group of Taliban fighters approximately 220m (240yd) south of the helicopter. 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. In order to speed disembarkation, all troops were loaded on a single CH-47D helicopter for transport; the other Chinook would approach the landing zone second as a decoy. This was preventable only if they just had not taken off that night, Lee said. 2017 The Dallas Morning News. The immediate reaction force Extortion 17 carried should have been flown in two helicopters: Senior JSOC and aviation planners both agreed that the best course of action was to put the entire . The worst of the wounded was one of Lees crew members, who suffered what was later diagnosed as a severe traumatic brain injury. Why did it happen? As two U.S. Army AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, an Air Force AC-130 gunship, and a small fleet of unmanned surveillance aircraft orbited overhead, a platoon of the 75th Ranger Regiment and members of an Afghan special operations unit stormed down the rear ramps of the Chinooks and into the night. His account of the brave pilots, crew, and passengers of Extortion 17 and . 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. [citation needed] Doubts about this story were raised by families and other concerned citizens despite the fact that the Navy SEAL team aboard Extortion 17 was a different squadron than that which had killed Osama bin Laden three months earlier. It wasnt preventable. American forces continued to carry out operations in the area (mostly via helicopter and using special forces), encountering resistance from Taliban fighters on several occasions. 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. But we are still sending people to another country to fight, and we need to understand why were doing that, he said. The first grenade missed Extortion 17. His account of the brave pilots, crew, and passengers of Extortion 17 . Despite the risk, operations like these were taking place with such frequency in Afghanistan they only made news when they produced a spectacular success, like the bin Laden mission. 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. That night, nearly 10 years after the U.S. had gone to war in Afghanistan, Lee believed they were the best team for this dangerous mission. American signals intelligence aircraft intercepted these transmissions and subsequently tracked the individual and his accomplice. Another tactic sometimes employed by gunships, according to Glover, is a show of force, in which pilots and crew fire into an empty field or stand of trees just before a transport helicopter prepares to land, using the sound of a gun alone to keep enemy heads down and fingers off triggers. God sees you, You do see that A-12(1963! The group probably contained the commander and a few of his bodyguards, while the remaining Taliban fighters offered resistance in an effort to buy the group enough time to escape. Carter and Nichols continued the descent. Neither did the risk he and his pilots faced every night. The suspicious August 6th, 2011, CH47-D Chinook helicopter crash in Wardak Province, Afghanistan which claimed the lives of 38 American military personnel. They may have seen Extortion 17 and its landing zone through their own night vision goggles or simply aimed by sound alone. The five other Navy casualties were NSW (Naval Special Warfare) support personnel; in addition to these, three AFSOC operators, one Combat Controller and two Pararescuemen, all members of the 24th Special Tactics Squadron, died in the crash. In The Final Flight of Extortion 17, Ed Darack debunks this theory and others and uncovers the truth behind this mysterious tragedy. Insurgents fired at the Chinook, severed one of. Senior Chief Robert James Reeves was one of those Americans. [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." Prior to the mission, the deadliest incident was June 2005's Operation . At the flight controls were David R. Carter of the Colorado Army National Guard and copilot Bryan J. Nichols, a Kansas-based Army reservist. 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. The vast majority miss. All three airmen were assigned to the 24th Special Tactics Squadron, Pope Field, North Carolina. Extortion 17 and 16 weren't MH-47s and their crews were not Night Stalkers. The image released and purported to be Bin Laden was a blended image of an old Bin Laden pic and an image of a different terrorist that was killed in battle. The remaining two fighters ducked into a stand of trees and disappeared from the Apaches infrared scanners. Terms of Use [2][38], On 10 August 2011, the U.S. military stated that the insurgent who fired the rocket-propelled grenade had been killed only two days afterward in an F-16 airstrike, saying only that intelligence gained on the ground provided "a high degree of confidence" that the person was among those killed in the airstrike from two days earlier, but providing no other details. Cookie Policy "Before Benghazi there was Extortion 17.. Saturday August 6 th 2011 was a day that changed the lives of my family forever. In this week in military history, we explore the aerial attack on a U.S. Army helicopter with the call sign "Extortion 17" in Afghanistan on August 6, 2011. [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. It means being informed. On August 6, 2011, the final flight of Extortion 17 resulted in the single deadliest incident for the US military during the War in Afghanistan.
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