He was too busy. Extortion 17 - The Brian Bill Foundation When the two Chinooks had first touched down in the village, a group of eight fighters armed with AK-47 rifles and RPG-7 rocket-propelled grenade launchers bolted from the compound. 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 . 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. Sgt. 2017 The Dallas Morning News. 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. Worst US loss of life in Afghan war as helicopter crash kills 38 We had guys who had flown in Desert Storm, guys who had just come off active duty, Lee said. Monday, 06 August 2012, marks one year since the tragic downing of EXTORTION 17 in Tangi, Afghanistan. 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. One rocket struck a rotor blade, causing the aircraft to crash almost instantly. 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. All three airmen were assigned to the 24th Special Tactics Squadron, Pope Field, North Carolina. 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). About a dozen of the 33 troops in the back of the helicopter suffered broken bones, heavy bruises and scrapes. The official statement from U.S. Central Command stated that a Taliban fighter scored a lucky shot with a rocket-propelled grenade. 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. It was a hard landing, but it would have been worse if they had landed tail first. 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. The Afghan soldiers were an essential part of the package; they were trained to move with our forces to the target. Sometimes the enemy succeeds in delivering one of these To whom it may concern projectiles. 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. [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. 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. He was assigned to the 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (General Support Aviation Battalion), New Century, Kansas, Tech. On his right wrist, he wears a bracelet with the names of the five crew members of Extortion 17. Lee heard the call, and he knew what it meant. 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. They reached the site at 04:12 and found no survivors. 2023 Smithsonian Magazine In April 2011, American forces turned over control of Combat Outpost Tangi to Afghan government forces. 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 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 . With a keen understanding of the propaganda value of downing Coalition helicopters, the Taliban single them out as targets. The quick reaction force included SEAL Team 6 and other special operations personnel. 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. The crash claimed the lives of 38 personnel, including 22 special operations forces in Afghanistan Aug. 6, 2011. 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. 2011 Afghanistan Boeing Chinook shootdown - Wikipedia 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. Extortion 17 August 6, 2022 marks 11 years since Extortion 17. For helicopter crews in Afghanistan, the most dangerous times are landing and taking off. At 01:00, they decided to engage the group with the SEAL reserves. No evidence has emerged to support any of these claims. The Chinook is often used to assist in disaster relief, delivering food and water after earthquakes and floods. But Tahir and a group of his fighters escaped. They may have seen Extortion 17 and its landing zone through their own night vision goggles or simply aimed by sound alone. He finished his contract with the Army shortly afterward, and that September enrolled in Southern Methodist Universitys Dedman School of Law. See more ideas about extortion, navy seals, seal team 6. They are not the same SEALs, and these two events are not connected to one another. Get the latest in military news, entertainment and gear in your inbox daily. We continue our work at the Museum so that theirservice and sacrifice will never be forgotten. At 2:36 a.m., Extortion 17 requested an infrared spotlight, visible only through night vision goggles, to illuminate the landing zone. 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. There are more operations than can be supported by the 160th at any given time," says Major Matthew Brady, a former 160th pilot and company commander. Over time, certain memories will fade, certain details will fade. The two military investigations, one conducted by United States Central Command and one by the multi-service Joint Combat Assessment Team, pored over the details of the crash with excruciating focus and concluded that no planners or participants bore any fault regarding the circumstances leading to the shootdown of Extortion 17. 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. "Over two years after Extortion 17 was shot down, the families still have these unanswered questions," said Klayman. Nearby, there were two enemy fighters with rocket-propelled grenade launchers. Extortion 17: Were American Servicemen in Afghanistan Set Up For Touch device users can explore by touch or with swipe . [7][27][28] During the battle, American forces observed a small group of Taliban trying to flee the scene. "The downing of Extortion 17 was a catastrophic and unprecedented tragedy for our nation," Reid testified. August 6 marks six years since deadly 'Extortion 17' helicopter crash A hearing was set to get answers to questions surrounding the high-profile shoot-down of an American helicopter in Afghanistan and how the remains of the fallen service members were handled. 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. The theories suggest that Afghan forces leaked information to the Taliban about the mission. Lee and his friend Bryan Nichols flew their Chinook into battle several times the first night, dropping off troops at a landing zone (LZ) almost 10,000 feet above sea level. Don Brown, a former U.S. Navy JAG officer stationed at the Pentagon, and former Special Assistant United . Extortion 17 - IMDb Two investigations of the incident proved inconclusive. Please take a moment and pause to honor and remember these heroes. [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." To find answers to many of the outstanding questions regarding Extortion 17, a congressional oversight committee held a hearing on February 27, 2014. The reality is, every time a helicopter lifts off the ground in a war zone, it might get shot down, Darack said. )/SR-71 blackbird cloud behind the chinook; saying thats safe distance! I didnt want to die., He remembered the words of his old flight instructor: Never stop flying the aircraft.. Planners then chose a new landing zone for the IRF, but it was large enough to accommodate only one Chinook. [11] Seventeen U.S. Navy SEALs remained in reserve at the forward operating base. So where did it go?? He pushed hard on the cyclic stick to tilt the helicopter forward. This remains the greatest single loss of life to Naval Special Warfare since the Afghan War started in 2001. Seven Afghan National Army commandos and one Afghan civilian interpreter were also killed in the crash. But the CH-47D has neither a flight nor voice recorder, only an engine performance data recorder for maintenance. #neverforgotten #screwedbygovt #demmandanswers. I thought I hit a tree,he said. Director Franois Garcia Writer Sandeep Panesar Stars Robert O'Neill (archive footage) Patricia Economo Enrique Garcia Following a scorched earth tactic may have killed the two shootersand possibly a greater number of innocentsprior to Extortion 17s return that night, but counterinsurgency doctrine dictates that such tactics lead to potentially far worse long-term consequences. It was brought down by multiple shots. [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. On his first deployment, he felt fortunate to be surrounded by veteran pilots he could learn from. American, French and Afghan National Police forces carried out a three-day sweep of the area, and the area was then deemed secure. Chance is still part of the battlefield, says Brady. You never want to use the same landing zone twice, Darack said. 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 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. They heard a helicopter coming, they grabbed their RPGs, and they fired in quick succession, Darack said. - Afghanistan: Honoring the Heroes of Extortion 17 NFTs Simplified > Uncategorized > extortion 17 crash photos. "All of this raises the distinct possibility of a cover-up as to . Lightboxes. This remains the greatest single loss of life to Naval Special Warfare since the Afghan War started in 2001. 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. Around 02:23, the two helicopters departed the forward base. [25][original research? The night before he left to go to Fort Hood, where he would board a plane to Afghanistan, the biggest event of the 10-year war occurred: Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan during a raid by Navy SEALs. Flying low, the pilots have to maneuver a machine weighing up to 50,000 pounds over mountains, under cover of darkness, in swirling wind and dust, wearing night vision goggles. Setting the record straight: Myths and misinformation about Extortion 17 God sees you, You do see that A-12(1963! The circumstances surrounding the events of Extortion 17 are tragic. Its crazy how many times I can think of where me or the guys I was with had to do that.. The first grenade missed Extortion 17. 30 US troops died in single deadliest incident of the Afghanistan War First images of mangled Chinook crash revealed as Pentagon names all 30 Find the perfect extortion 17 stock photo, image, vector, illustration or 360 image. 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. 3 U.S. Army Reserve personnel from the 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment. The mission was flown by conventional pilots flying unmodified CH-47Ds. 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. There are more operations than can be supported by the 160th at any given time, says Major Matthew Brady, a former 160th pilot and company commander. 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. 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. Upon learning of Tahirs possible location, a U.S. Army Rangers and Afghan Special Forces team was deployed into the valley from the south. God bless all of them- the bravest of the brave. 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. Connor Mendez, courtesy of U.S. Army. What are the odds? On the night of 8 August 2011, an F-16 dropped four GBU-54 "Laser JDAM" bombs on the man, his accomplice and four associates in the Chak Valley, which lies to the west of the Tangi Valley. Flying to the Tangi Valley for the second time, Extortion 17 and 16 took a different route, approaching from the northwest instead of the south. Create an account. The Final Mission of Extortion 17: Special Ops, Helicop 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. According to officials, the team included 17 SEALs, five Navy special operations troops who support the SEALs, three Air Force airmen, a five-member Army air crew and a military dog, along with. For Lee, there was no time to reflect on how close he had come to dying. On this night, Aug. 6, 2011, something went terribly wrong. She had just given birth to their first child. Photo by Sgt. Around 2:40 a.m., an Apache pilot flying in support came on the radio and shouted: Fallen Angel. Lee remained in Afghanistan flying combat missions for another eight months before returning home in the spring of 2012. Nothing tests the capabilities of a young helicopter pilot like flying in the extreme conditions of Afghanistan. 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. The worst of the wounded was one of Lees crew members, who suffered what was later diagnosed as a severe traumatic brain injury. The shootdown was the single, deadliest loss of U.S. forces in the war. 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. 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 But no one died. Insurgents fired at the Chinook, severed one of. But at least you should care about them and appreciate what were asking of them.. So if there was a added black box installed on this Aircraft there should be a maintenance record? I had to learn how to land while browned-out, wearing NVGs, on the side of a mountain or an uneven field, Lee said. Though both noted that airborne sensor coverage and closer AH-64 gunship escort should be considered in future operations, nothing could have kept the shooters from firing their RPGs that night. 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. As he did, he felt the craft leveling off. [43][44], American rules of engagement were tightened by Gen. Stanley McChrystal in 2009 in order to improve American counterinsurgency strategy. This would not be the first time that an Afghan military member has been an undercover Taliban Terrorist and shot our US Military! 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. 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. It also became one of the most devastating death tolls of the U.S. Special Operations Forces. 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. He presents the Final Flight of EXTORTION 17 (spoken one seven and seventeen), like a Defense Attorney or an investigator. 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. Unidentified Remains Extortion 17 (unknown-2011) - Find a Grave On board the Chinook CH-47D were 15 members of SEAL Team Six, 15 SEAL Team Six Support personnel, 1 Bomb Dog, 7 . According to one Army report, in the three months prior to the Juy Zarin raid, as many as 17 RPGs were fired at helicopters over Wardak and Logar provinces, a relatively small part of the country. Downing of Extortion 17: The Single Deadliest Incident of the US War in The helicopter fell from the sky, killing all 38 on board. | 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 United States military continually works to improve protection for transport helicopters and their occupants, according to Glover and Brady. Petty Officer 1st Class Aaron Vaughn was one of the SEAL Team 6 operators who died in the crash. Extortion 17 could be a bigger scandal and betrayal of Americans than Benghazi. extortion 17 crash photos. He would not have hesitated to fly with any of them. There remained many mysteries about the Extortion 17 shoot down. The Final Flight of Extortion 17 It was the deadliest helicopter crash in the history of U.S. special operations. 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. Near the site of the Extortion 17 crash stands a memorial to Taliban fighters killed in the August 2011 battle during which Extortion 17 was shot down. One of the best crews in my company. 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. Carter and Nichols continued the descent. 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 So the whole team went in one Chinook helicopter Extortion 17. Extortion 17 - National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum 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. 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. This is the Group Burial for unidentified remains of casualties of the Chinook helicopter (CH-47D 89-00175) which crashed in Afghanistan on August 6, 2011. The Final Flight of Extortion 17 - Smithsonian Magazine The crash occurred in Tangi Joi Zareen, in the district of Sayd Abad in Wardak Province after it was struck by an. 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). EXTORTION 17 COVER-UP OF SEAL TEAM SIX SHOOT-DOWN | BWCentral Extortion 17: The Mission and the Tragedy in Afghanistan Extortion 17 hi-res stock photography and images - Alamy On August 6th, 2011, the helicopter was fired upon and shot down by a previously undetected group of Taliban fighters. [1][5][6][7][8] At 30 American military personnel killed, the shootdown of Extortion 17 represents the greatest single-incident loss of American lives in Operation Enduring Freedom Afghanistan, surpassing the 16 lost in the downing of Turbine 33, a 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) MH-47 helicopter, during Operation Red Wings on 28 June 2005.[2]. extortion 17 crash photos - nftcollectionlab.com