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. He was too busy. He was probably in the top 1 percent of Army aviators, Lee said. 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. The downing of Extortion 17 spurred a number of conspiracy theories, such as the idea that the shootdown was revenge for bin Laden's death. Their deaths are the greatest single loss of life ever suffered by the U.S. Special Operations community in the 24-year history of the U.S. Special Operations Command. 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. [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. "[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. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 135th Aviation Regiment (General Support Aviation Battalion), Grand Island, Nebraska, Sgt. #neverforgotten #screwedbygovt #demmandanswers. But at least you should care about them and appreciate what were asking of them.. The resulting explosion destroyed the aft rotor assembly. Extortion 17 and 16 werent MH-47s and their crews were not Night Stalkers. Through sensors on manned and unmanned aircraft, U.S. forces observing the mud walls and terraces of the village saw new groups of fighters gathering and maneuvering. So many unsettling details are coalescing with the resurgence of Extortion 17. The extreme G-forces killed everyone on board within a fraction of a second, Darack said. The guy was incredibly skilled.. The RPG is not a laser. [25][original research? Patrick D. Hamburger, 30, of Lincoln, Neb. Sat 6 Aug 2011 19.08 EDT. Humm, to have all the Seal Team 6 members in one place at one time?? [11] Seventeen U.S. Navy SEALs remained in reserve at the forward operating base. According to his book, No Easy Day (detailing his participation in Operation Neptune Spear), Mark Owen (the pen name of former SEAL Operator Matt Bissonnette) stated that nearly all of the Operators on that mission were handpicked from Red Squadron. NFTs Simplified > Uncategorized > extortion 17 crash photos. 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 . Photo by Sgt. 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. With a keen understanding of the propaganda value of downing Coalition helicopters, the Taliban single them out as targets. Their target was a Taliban commander responsible for ambushes and other attacks against U.S. and Afghan forces. Here, in silence, are the names and photographs of all 30 men. 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. [12][13], Six minutes prior to reaching the landing zone, the empty CH-47D left the formation as planned. As he did, he felt the craft leveling off. 5 U.S. extortion 17 crash photos. The pilots and crew of Extortion 17, however, had ideal experience and abilities for the mission that night. (Smithsonian Books, September 2017). Directors Karl Horstmann Stephen Spivey Writer Stephen Spivey Stars Sean Hannity Raj Kala It means being informed. 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. On his first deployment, he felt fortunate to be surrounded by veteran pilots he could learn from. Im a 25 year veteran involved in many support missions and I find this downing of Ext 17 very suspect indeed! Six minutes from their estimated landing time, Extortion 16 broke away from the lead Chinook and orbited at a location close enough to help if needed. The hardest LZ Id ever been into, Lee said. [36][37], After the shootdown of Extortion 17, the insurgent responsible used a two-way radio to brag to others about the act. This hearing also serves to There was a lot of experience in that cockpit, the flight engineers and the door gunners. The "had Seal team 6 killed" is a likely reference to what's known as the "Extortion 17" incident, the August 2011 tragedy in which a Chinook military helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan,. The tempo of the missions did not decrease. Capable of loitering overhead for hours undetected, small fleets of unmanned craft passed imagery to mission planners before and during the raid at Juy Zarin, allowing them to recognize individual fighters, learn their habits, pinpoint where they slept, and identify the types of weapons they carried. The helicopters are capacious and fast, and they can perform well in Afghanistans performance-degrading high altitudes and heat. Approaching to land or having just taken off, the craft is flying slow and low, so it presents a tempting target. In order to prevent this, American forces called in for support. 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. Originally just two people, the group eventually swelled to a total of nine or ten fighters, and the special operations task force commander and the Immediate Reaction Force commander became concerned that it might include Tahir. Its crazy how many times I can think of where me or the guys I was with had to do that.. 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 A Department of Defense official asserted that there were no leaks from the Afghans. Connor Mendez, courtesy of U.S. Army. Upon learning of Tahirs possible location, a U.S. Army Rangers and Afghan Special Forces team was deployed into the valley from the south. In April 2011, American forces turned over control of Combat Outpost Tangi to Afghan government forces. I had to learn how to land while browned-out, wearing NVGs, on the side of a mountain or an uneven field, Lee said. His account of the brave pilots, crew, and passengers of Extortion 17 and . The crew of Slasher 02, the AC-130 circling above, flipped the switch on their powerful light. At that moment, Extortion 17 slowed to 58 mph, at no more than 150 feet, approaching a spot framed by trees and mud-brick huts, and "sparkled" by the infrared designator on an AC-130 gunship. He said: "They wanted to attack our Mujahideen who were in a house, but our Mujahideen resisted and destroyed a helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade. [11], The 30 American deaths represent the greatest loss of U.S. military lives in a single incident in the war in Afghanistan that began in 2001. In The Final Mission of Extortion 17, Ed Darack debunks this theory and others and uncovers the truth behind this mysterious tragedy. They heard a helicopter coming, they grabbed their RPGs, and they fired in quick succession, Darack said. It was a hard landing, but it would have been worse if they had landed tail first. To find answers to many of the outstanding questions regarding Extortion 17, a congressional oversight committee held a hearing on February 27, 2014. And to this day, people are still debating what really happened. One rocket struck a rotor blade, causing the aircraft to crash almost instantly. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Geneva G. Brier/Released) During a previous deployment to Iraq, Carters unit flew dozens of similar raids, which he often planned and led, and gained a reputation for working well with special operations troops. He is the founder of Darack Research, a company that innovates unmanned systems, which grew out of his July 2014 Air & Space article Build Your Own Drone. God bless all of them- the bravest of the brave. Thirty-eight boarded Extortion 17 Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopter pilots from the 159th General Support Aviation Battalion. While Benghazi resulted in four American deaths, Extortion 17 resulted in 38 deaths, including nearly two dozen Navy SEALs. Cart. 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. Through the goggles, the landing zone shone brilliantly. A junior, he was ready to fight, but the war would be over, he figured, before he even got out of college. You also want to come in from a different direction for the element of surprise.. So the whole team went in one Chinook helicopter Extortion 17. The following was extracted from The Navy Times: If one is to believe the account of Matt Bissonnette, the only possibility of a participant of the bin Laden raid perishing on Extortion 17 is if the one SEAL specifically noted not to be a member of Red Squadron was a member of Gold Squadron and a passenger aboard the ill-fated Chinook. To lose even one precious life is too many, and the United States lost 38 soldiers that day. It is also the most disastrous incident in the. The quick reaction force included SEAL Team 6 and other special operations personnel. The crash is referred to as Extortion 17 by the callsign of the CH-47 Chinook helicopter involved in the crash. The downing of Extortion 17 spurred a number of conspiracy theories, such as the idea that the shootdown was revenge for bin Laden's death. [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. The following passage, published in The Navy Times, seems to support that assertion. In mid-2011, combined with a U.S. Army aviation battalion, they had spent weeks conducting operations nearly every other night in Wardak and surrounding provinces south of Kabul to capture or kill Taliban forces, disrupt attack plots, and deny them sanctuary on this strategic approach to Kabul City. Create an account. Theres no precedent for this. The shooters origin remains a mystery. 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. On a moonless night, an Army Chinook helicopter swept low over the Tangi Valley, a strip of forbidding terrain in eastern Afghanistan teeming with Taliban and located just 35 miles south of Kabul. 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. ", "Taliban laid trap for Chinook: official", "Honor Roll: Remembering the 30 U.S. 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. 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. Six weeks into his deployment, Lee experienced his worst day as a helicopter pilot to that point. 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.