The helicopter crashed less than 5 seconds later, killing all 38 people on board. And why was the fire control officer of the AC-130 Gunship flying above denied permission . Two were still alive." A source from the Navys special operations community described the reaction as Shock and disbelief. God bless all of them- the bravest of the brave. Aired: 08/01/21 Rating: NR 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. The mission was flown by conventional pilots flying unmodified CH-47Ds. In The Final Flight of Extortion 17, Ed Darack debunks this theory and others and uncovers the truth behind this mysterious tragedy. American intelligence officials identified this individual as "OBJECTIVE GINOSA." Ryan Last. Alexander J. Bennett, 24, of Tacoma, Wash. In 2006, he was called into Afghanistan, where he turned 25. As he did, he felt the craft leveling off. [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. Terms of Use 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. Are all DEVGRUs saved in a sperm bank? [35] The Seattle Times and The New York Times also reported this information. David Tarrant, The Dallas Morning News It was the deadliest helicopter crash in the history of U.S. special operations. Courtesy . The conspiracy theories didnt bother Lee at first. No evidence has emerged to support any of these claims. Photo by Sgt. 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. Lee remained in Afghanistan flying combat missions for another eight months before returning home in the spring of 2012. Please take a moment and pause to honor and remember these heroes. Copyright 2023 | National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum, The Museum is a 501(c)(3) organization. Lee is 36 now, a civil attorney in Dallas, a world away from Afghanistan. A body went into the ocean, but Ill bet it wasnt Bin Ladens. American, French and Afghan National Police forces carried out a three-day sweep of the area, and the area was then deemed secure. Humm, to have all the Seal Team 6 members in one place at one time?? The vast majority miss. Save up to 30% when you upgrade to an image pack. Afghanistan has long been a counter-insurgency campaign: The United States strategy has been to win Afghan trust through cooperation and aid. He was assigned to the 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (General Support Aviation Battalion), New Century, Kansas, Spc. August 2011 Attack on U.S. The men who serve in the American military are the finest! Naval Special Warfare support personnel: Two, 3 U.S. Army Reserve personnel (Aircrew) from the, This page was last edited on 2 March 2023, at 20:01. Here, in silence, are the names and photographs of all 30 men. Their target: an Afghan named Qari Tahir and his group of fighters. 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. Faced with the possibility of confronting nine or 10 Taliban fighters, planners increased the reinforcement team from 17 to 32 men, formed around the 15-man SEAL group. The basis of the provocative hit military documentary Fallen Angel Call Sign: Extortion 17. Approaching to land or having just taken off, the craft is flying slow and low, so it presents a tempting target. 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. The 30 American Servicemen killed in action (KIA) with the downing of Extortion 17. Around 2:40 a.m., an Apache pilot flying in support came on the radio and shouted: Fallen Angel. Seconds later, with the Chinook just over 100 feet off the ground and traveling at 58 mph, two or three previously unseen fighters emerged from the tower of a two-story building roughly 220 yards south of the helicopter, shouldering RPG launchers. Darack did extensive research of what happened next. Extortion 17 could be a bigger scandal and betrayal of Americans than Benghazi. In The Final Mission of Extortion 17, Ed Darack debunks this theory and others and uncovers the truth behind this mysterious tragedy. ], Four years after the downing of Extortion 17, there were many theories about a possible government coverup. 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. So if there was a added black box installed on this Aircraft there should be a maintenance record? What we saw is that if the enemy knew where you were going to attack, they would back some guys with RPGs off 500 meters or so, to shoot during an ingress, Glover explains. On Aug. 6, 2011, on the deadliest day in special operations history, 30 Americans, including 17 Navy SEALs, died when a Chinook helicopter crashed. Several minutes later, a 20-man Pathfinder team (specializing in downed-aircraft rescue and recovery) arrived at the site. The following was transcribed from the above video press conference. 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. 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. "It's a math problem. On this night, Aug. 6, 2011, something went terribly wrong. He pushed hard on the cyclic stick to tilt the helicopter forward. That same day he obtained a medical waiver he needed to pursue an Army commission to serve an eight-year hitch before going to law school. Extortion 17 and 16 weren't MH-47s and their crews were not Night Stalkers. Bissonnette also said that there was one DEVGRU Operator on the mission who was not a member of Red Squadron and that he was chosen for the mission because of his linguistic abilities. 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. 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. If this was survivable, that was the right crew to have. )/SR-71 blackbird cloud behind the chinook; saying thats safe distance! Their target was a Taliban commander responsible for ambushes and other attacks against U.S. and Afghan forces. Lee had just flown the night before on a similar mission with one of the pilots, David Carter. Justin Buddy Lee will never forget that night six years ago. Its a math problem. [12][13], Six minutes prior to reaching the landing zone, the empty CH-47D left the formation as planned. Im a 25 year veteran involved in many support missions and I find this downing of Ext 17 very suspect indeed! Some 30 seconds later, one of the AH-64 Apache helicopters in the area reported: Fallen Angel.. 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. The helicopter, call sign Extortion 17, was on a mission to reinforce American and coalition special operations troops. One rocket struck a rotor blade, causing the aircraft to crash almost instantly. [11], Separately, ISR aircraft continued to observe the unengaged group from the compound. [9][10], After American intelligence services discovered in 2011 that senior Taliban leader Qari Tahir was possibly in Tangi Valley, Wardak province, Afghanistan, local American forces launched a mission to apprehend or kill him. In June 2005, a rocket-propelled grenade connected with the rear transmission of a 160th MH-47E Chinook as it attempted to come to a hover, downing it; all 16 on board were killed. [33], The New York Post reported that the Pentagon released 30 names from the crash. All 38 passengers aboard Extortion 17, including 30 U.S. military personnel, eight Afghans and a U.S. military working dog, were killed after the transport helicopter was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade. We didnt do fast-rope inserts, building insertions, or anything like that. Subsequent to their Iraq deployment, the unit flew the SEALs of Team 6 on practice raids around Fort Carson, Colorado, and during nighttime urban training in Denver, further cementing the 2-135ths reputation with special operations units. He was assigned to the 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (General Support Aviation Battalion), New Century, Kansas, Tech. It is also the most disastrous incident in the. Early media reports suggested that the Army had been tardy to recover flight recorders from the downed Chinook, and, as a consequence, the recorders had been swept away by the flood. NFTs Simplified > Uncategorized > extortion 17 crash photos. He knew the pilots and crew members aboard Extortion 17. LZ is ice, transmitted one of the Rangers on the ground, indicating the landing zone was free of enemy activity. A typical combat mission in Afghanistan leaves little margin for error, requiring Chinook pilots to land on tiny, makeshift sites on mountain slopes where any tree, bush or rock could be hiding an enemy fighter with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. The group fired 2-3 RPG rounds from a two-story building from a location some 220 meters south of the helicopter. An Afghan official, speaking anonymously a few days after the attack, speculated that the Taliban had laid a trap, that they had purposely put out false information about a meeting involving the Taliban commander. 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. Early life The crash is referred to as Extortion 17 by the callsign of the CH-47 Chinook helicopter involved in the crash. Ninty-six days after the death of Osama bin Laden by SEAL Team Six, an old Vietnam era Army Reserve helicopter, call sign "Extortion 17," was shot down in the Wardak Province, Tangi River Valley, Afghanistan on Aug 6, 2011. Lieutenant Commander (SEAL) Jonas B. Kelsall, 32, of Shreveport, Louisiana, Special Warfare Operator Master Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Louis J. Langlais, 44, of Santa Barbara, California, Special Warfare Operator Senior Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Thomas A. Ratzlaff, 34, of Green Forest, Arkansas, Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician Senior Chief Petty Officer (Expeditionary Warfare Specialist/Freefall Parachutist) Kraig M. Vickers 36, of Kokomo, Hawaii, Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Brian R. Bill, 31, of Stamford, Connecticut, Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) John W. Faas, 31, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Kevin A. Houston, 35, of West Hyannisport, Massachusetts, Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Matthew D. Mason, 37, of Kansas City, Missouri, Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Stephen M. Mills, 35, of Fort Worth, Texas, Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician Chief Petty Officer(Expeditionary Warfare Specialist/Freefall Parachutist/Diver) Nicholas H. Null, 30, of Washington, West Virginia, Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Robert J. Reeves, 32, of Shreveport, Louisiana, Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Heath M. Robinson, 34, of Detroit, Michigan, Special Warfare Operator Petty Officer 1st Class (SEAL) Darrik C. Benson, 28, of Angwin, California, Special Warfare Operator Petty Officer 1st Class (SEAL/Parachutist) Christopher G. Campbell, 36, of Jacksonville, North Carolina, Information Systems Technician Petty Officer 1st Class (Expeditionary Warfare Specialist/Freefall Parachutist) Jared W. Day, 28, of Taylorsville, Utah, Master-at-Arms Petty Officer 1st Class (Expeditionary Warfare Specialist) John Douangdara, 26, of South Sioux City, Nebraska, Cryptologist Technician(Collection)Petty Officer 1st Class(Expeditionary Warfare Specialist) Michael J. But no one died. A junior, he was ready to fight, but the war would be over, he figured, before he even got out of college. We continue our work at the Museum so that theirservice and sacrifice will never be forgotten. In March 2009, the U.S. 10th Mountain Division established a base in Tangi Valley after increased Taliban activity in the area. Theyre going after in very hostile environments, who know the terrain very well, who know the battlescape very well, Darack said. [11], By 16:25, all of the remains were taken from the crash site via ground convoy and transported to Combat Outpost Sayyid Abad. In less than five seconds, the helicopter crashed, killing all occupants, and approximately 30 seconds later, one of the AH-64 Apache helicopters radioed in the crash. The RPG that struck Extortion 17 threw the helicopter into an uncontrollable spin. A Department of Defense official asserted that there were no leaks from the Afghans. 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. Ranger assault helicopters had already engaged the enemy and killed six of eight Taliban fighters, causing the other two to retreat. 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. 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. The US soldiers killed in the 2011 Afghanistan Boeing Chinook shoot-down with the call sign Extortion 17 (Photo: XY) SGT Alexander J. Bennett SPC Spencer Duncan (youngest onboard) CWO Bryan J. Nichols 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. And while all military helicopters carry countermeasures for guided missiles, nothing can interdict the dumb luck of an unguided RPG round sailing through the air. Nothing tests the capabilities of a young helicopter pilot like flying in the extreme conditions of Afghanistan. This hearing also serves to The U.S. Navy SEAL task force assigned to conduct operations in Tangi Valley was well conditioned to the dangerous operating environment. The article stated that the helicopter crashed after an RPG round impacted the aft rotor assembly. He was too busy. At the pilots request, the AC-130 flashed an infrared spotlight, which could be seen only through night vision goggles, to light up the landing zone. Just as ridiculous as saying [President George W.] Bush was responsible for 9/11, Lee said. Buy images; Sell images; John W. Brown, 33, of Tallahassee, Florida, Staff Sgt. Night Stalker pilots and crew rigorously train for nighttime raids, like the one in Juy Zarin. The 30 American deaths represent the greatest loss of U.S. military lives in a single incident in the decade-long war in Afghanistan that began in 2001. Now deep in the Tangi Valley, their night vision goggles showing the world around them in greenish hues, the IRF team members readied to hit the ground running as the pilots slowed Extortion 17 and descended toward the village.
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