Not feelin it! Why did it happen? 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 Chance is still part of the battlefield, says Brady. For the last two years, hes been an attorney with the law firm Jackson Walker. 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. The guy was incredibly skilled.. Stock photos, 360 images, vectors and videos (Smithsonian Books, September 2017). In fact, the conflict was heating up. [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. We were on goggles the whole time. 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. Nothing tests the capabilities of a young helicopter pilot like flying in the extreme conditions of Afghanistan. The helicopter plunged tail first. A junior, he was ready to fight, but the war would be over, he figured, before he even got out of college. 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. Terms of Use Its a math problem. The second round struck one of the three aft rotor blades of the helicopter, destroying the aft rotor assembly. The torque of the spinning rotor assembly, now catastrophically imbalanced, ripped the rear pylon off the Chinooks fuselage. 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. 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). The helicopter carrying the SEALs proceeded to the landing zone alone, without external lighting. The following passage, published in The Navy Times, seems to support that assertion. 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. Extortion 17 could be a bigger scandal and betrayal of Americans than Benghazi. So many unsettling details are coalescing with the resurgence of Extortion 17. Its crazy how many times I can think of where me or the guys I was with had to do that.. In The Final Mission of Extortion 17, Ed Darack debunks this theory and others and uncovers the truth behind this mysterious tragedy. At 01:00, they decided to engage the group with the SEAL reserves. 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. Should the Apaches, or the AC-130 overhead, have fired upon the groups of suspected Taliban that gathered in the village after the raid began? But Tahir and a group of his fighters escaped. He was assigned to the 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (General Support Aviation Battalion), New Century, Kansas, Tech. 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. Patrick D. Hamburger, 30, of Lincoln, Neb. Theyre going after in very hostile environments, who know the terrain very well, who know the battlescape very well, Darack said. Thirty members of the American special forces have been killed in Afghanistan in the deadliest day of the 10-year war for US military personnel when the Taliban shot down . All rights reserved. They reached the site at 04:12 and found no survivors. 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. 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 Restrained by strict rules of engagement in force at the time, the helicopter crews could not have fired without a strong indication of hostile intent. 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, Afghanistan. The events that unfolded that night are commonly referred to as Extortion 17, the call sign for the helicopter transporting the special operations personnel. He said, "And now, to our honor roll of American Service Personnel killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. The SEAL Team 6 community was devastated. | All hand picked by Red Squadron really makes your neck hair standup! They heard a helicopter coming, they grabbed their RPGs, and they fired in quick succession, Darack said. May God give them the strength to carry on without them. The Afghan soldiers were an essential part of the package; they were trained to move with our forces to the target. [9][10][11] After a 20-minute flight (around 23:00), the two Chinook helicopters landed near the compound ostensibly containing Tahir, offloaded the Ranger platoon and returned to base. "The downing of Extortion 17 was a catastrophic and unprecedented tragedy for our nation," Reid testified. 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. 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, )/SR-71 blackbird cloud behind the chinook; saying thats safe distance! The basis of the provocative hit military documentary Fallen Angel Call Sign: Extortion 17. 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. 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. 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. June 5, 2022 Posted by: Category: Uncategorized; No Comments . The second slammed into one of the Chinooks rear rotor blades and exploded, severing 10 feet of it. Touch device users can explore by touch or with swipe . 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. After some time, another group of about 10 Taliban fighters was spotted that we suspected could be Qari Tahir himself fleeing the scene. [11] Going forward, the two AH-64 Apache helicopters would be engaged in tracking those two groups of Taliban, and hence unable to provide surveillance or fire support to the inbound helicopter carrying the SEAL team. 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. 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. Sat 6 Aug 2011 19.08 EDT. American signals intelligence aircraft intercepted these transmissions and subsequently tracked the individual and his accomplice. He knew the pilots and crew members aboard Extortion 17. Upon learning of Tahirs possible location, a U.S. Army Rangers and Afghan Special Forces team was deployed into the valley from the south. 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. The IRF also included two SEALs from another team, five Navy special operations support personnel, three Air Force special tactics airmen, seven Afghan National Army commandos, a translator, and a combat assault dog. On this day 11 years ago, 30 American military servicemen and a U.S. military dog were killed when a CH-47 Chinook helicoptercall sign Extortion 17was shot down in Afghanistan. The pilots and crew of Extortion 17, however, had ideal experience and abilities for the mission that night. 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. 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.[5][22][15][23]. 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 . She had just given birth to their first child. Burn is on, they radioed. They were part of his command. And now, the government wants to make the Taliban legitamet. Instead, two rigorous U. S. military investigations followed every moment of the mission to determine what went wrong on Extortion 17s final flight. Planners then chose a new landing zone for the IRF, but it was large enough to accommodate only one Chinook. David Tarrant, The Dallas Morning News No evidence has emerged to support any of these claims. A body went into the ocean, but Ill bet it wasnt Bin Ladens. Spec Ops Magazine 2023 All Rights Reserved. It was brought down by multiple shots. Where was the Chinook's black box cockpit recorder? A catastrophic crash seemed unavoidable. At any moment, they could come under rocket attack. While the goggles are better than nothing, they turn everything green, distort depth perception and limit peripheral vision. Just as ridiculous as saying [President George W.] Bush was responsible for 9/11, Lee said. 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. Lee heard the call, and he knew what it meant. 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 For every one that gets lucky, there are hundreds, even thousands, that zip by you., As weve seen a number of times, theres a point that a lucky shot is going to get you and there is only so much you can do to mitigate it, says Glover, the Marine aviator. Why did it happen? 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. When the Boeing CH-47D Chinook helicopter was hit, all 38 onboard were instantly killed. But why? "Before Benghazi there was Extortion 17.. Saturday August 6 th 2011 was a day that changed the lives of my family forever. Whether enemy fire brought down the Chinook or a tree strike would never be known for sure. The next night, the pair had orders to drop off more troops in the same spot. The missions commanders decided to insert another team to go after Tahir while the Rangers held the compound. He was assigned to the 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment(General Support Aviation Battalion), New Century, Kansas, Staff Sgt. Naval Special Warfare support personnel, two EOD technicians, one MWD Handler, one Cryptologic technician, and one Information systems technician. Director Franois Garcia Writer Sandeep Panesar Stars Robert O'Neill (archive footage) Patricia Economo Enrique Garcia 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. [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. They may have seen Extortion 17 and its landing zone through their own night vision goggles or simply aimed by sound alone. Buy images; Sell images; [35] The Seattle Times and The New York Times also reported this information. [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. American, French and Afghan National Police forces carried out a three-day sweep of the area, and the area was then deemed secure. Around 2:40 a.m., an Apache pilot flying in support came on the radio and shouted: Fallen Angel. Theres no precedent for this. U.S. Special Operations Command possesses its own specialized ChinooksMH-47sflown by the ultra-secretive 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, the Night Stalkers. The MH-47s modifications include inflight refueling probes, additional and upgraded sensors, more powerful engines, and more powerful defensive weapons than their conventional counterparts. This tactic was highly successful; hundreds of operations were conducted without firing a shot for years. Your Privacy Rights Fallen Angel.. Create an account. The front rotor shattered, and the back pylon sheared off. Will this ever be exposed! The following was transcribed from the above video press conference. 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. The Chinook helicopter they were aboard was shot down by . The forward rotor system then tore off, stressed by the imbalance and the strain of carrying what would normally be a shared load. To find answers to many of the outstanding questions regarding Extortion 17, a congressional oversight committee held a hearing on February 27, 2014. At 10:58 p.m., they were inserted by the same CH-47D helicopters that would later conduct the mission to insert the SEAL team. 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. His account of the brave pilots, crew, and passengers of Extortion 17 and . . Darack did extensive research of what happened next. The first round sailed past the helicopter. He was assigned to the 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (General Support Aviation Battalion), New Century, Kansas, Spc. The crash sent shock waves throughout U.S. special operations. But the CH-47D has neither a flight nor voice recorder, only an engine performance data recorder for maintenance. Ranger assault helicopters had already engaged the enemy and killed six of eight Taliban fighters, causing the other two to retreat. 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 U.S. Navy SEAL task force assigned to conduct operations in Tangi Valley was well conditioned to the dangerous operating environment. 2 U.S. Navy SEALs from a west coast-based SEAL team. However, the Afghan government forces did not occupy the base, which was seized by the Taliban shortly after the departure of American forces. But no one died. [11][12], As the Rangers approached the target compound, ISR aircraft observed several people leaving the compound. Pinterest. I was terrified. As they made their approach, there was a line of thunderstorms nearby. 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. In April 2011, American forces turned over control of Combat Outpost Tangi to Afghan government forces. This was preventable only if they just had not taken off that night, Lee said. The group fired 2-3 RPG rounds from a two-story building from a location some 220 meters south of the helicopter. 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. The Final Flight of Extortion 17 It was the deadliest helicopter crash in the history of U.S. special operations. Caring is more than just slapping a bumper sticker on your car, he said. There was a lot of experience in that cockpit, the flight engineers and the door gunners. Cart. The downing of the Seal Team Six chinook with all of those team members who participated in the Bin Laden raid and the subsequent request by President Obama to destroy the images that were released only adds to the suspicion around the events. 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. 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. There remained many mysteries about the Extortion 17 shoot down. 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. In March 2002, two MH-47s were downed by machine gun and rocket-propelled grenade fire while close to ground level. The Chinook smashed into the ground, the force ripping off his goggles. ], Four years after the downing of Extortion 17, there were many theories about a possible government coverup.
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