As is routine on such missions, two Apache attack helicopters provided extra cover and security for Extortion 17, while circling above was an AC-130 aircraft, a gunship that also provides surveillance. She had just given birth to their first child. Extortion 17 - IMDb 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. But no one died. (U.S. Army photo by Rachel Larue/Arlington National Cemetery/released). In order to prevent this, American forces called in for support. The co-pilot, Bryan Nichols, was one of Lees closest friends in the Chinook company. Carter and Nichols continued the descent. 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. You also want to come in from a different direction for the element of surprise.. Instead, two rigorous U. S. military investigations followed every moment of the mission to determine what went wrong on Extortion 17s final flight. By In Memoriam: The 31 Heroes of EXTORTION 17 - American Thinker He was too busy. So many unsettling details are coalescing with the resurgence of Extortion 17. The following passage, published in The Navy Times, seems to support that assertion. The Chinook smashed into the ground, the force ripping off his goggles. The crash is referred to as Extortion 17 by the callsign of the CH-47 Chinook helicopter involved in the crash. The SEAL task force was monitoring this activity, and they were soon called upon to deploy quickly into the northern end of the valley to intercept Tahir and capture him and those moving with him. 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. Terms of Use Where was the Chinook's black box cockpit recorder? The men who serve in the American military are the finest! Fallen Angel: Extortion 17 Facts and Documentary I was terrified. 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. [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." On Aug. 6, 2011, on the deadliest day in special operations history, 30 Americans, including 17 Navy SEALs, died when a Chinook helicopter crashed. There are no survivors. [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. 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. I find it extremely suspicious that, after the alleged killing of Osama Bin Laden, there was a very suspicious burial at sea for a covered corpse that was alleged to be Bin Laden. 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]. This tactic was highly successful; hundreds of operations were conducted without firing a shot for years. SEAL Team 6 & Extortion 17 Families Suspect Crash Was Inside Job 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. 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. 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. A 17-year-old boy died by suicide hours after being scammed. The - CNN In fact, the conflict was heating up. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. 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. The CH-47 "Chinook" was carrying some of this nation's bravest and most capable military . It was brought down by multiple shots. A Department of Defense official asserted that there were no leaks from the Afghans. 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.. [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. A source from the Navys special operations community described the reaction as Shock and disbelief. 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. Downing of Extortion 17: The Single Deadliest Incident of the US War in 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. Through the goggles, the landing zone shone brilliantly. One of the things I vowed, I will never forget. Cookie Policy He was probably in the top 1 percent of Army aviators, Lee said. At any moment, they could come under rocket attack. 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. He said that insurgents had assumed a strong tactical position without knowledge of the helicopter's flight path. | ", "Taliban laid trap for Chinook: official", "Honor Roll: Remembering the 30 U.S. Joining the 15 members of SEAL Team 6, two pilots and three-man crew inside Extortion 17: ten other Navy and Air Force personnel, eight Afghans and a combat assault dog named Bart. To reach the crash site, one must wind slowly through the ancient, narrow streets of the villages of Logar to reach the Tangi Valley in Wardak. Several minutes later, a 20-man Pathfinder team (specializing in downed-aircraft rescue and recovery) arrived at the site. 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. 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. And now, the government wants to make the Taliban legitamet. [34] Kevin Sieff and Greg Jaffe of The Washington Post reported that U.S. officials confirmed the deaths, including 22 SEALs. 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. Extortion 17 could be a bigger scandal and betrayal of Americans than Benghazi. The shooters origin remains a mystery. The Chinook is often used to assist in disaster relief, delivering food and water after earthquakes and floods. They were part of the same Army Reserve unit, 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment based in Gardner, Kan. Nichols, with three combat tours of duty, also had plenty of experience flying dangerous missions. The helicopter fell from the sky, killing all 38 on board. It wasnt preventable. One of the engines flew off, and the other caught fire. The 30 American Servicemen killed in action (KIA) with the downing of Extortion 17. He was also an instructor at the High Altitude Army National Guard Aviation Training Site (see Triple Threat: High, Hot, and Heavy, Aug. 2014), where many U.S. and foreign helicopter pilots train for mountainous and high-altitude flying, often before deployment to Afghanistan. See more ideas about extortion, navy seals, seal team 6. He pushed hard on the cyclic stick to tilt the helicopter forward. Courtesy . [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. The Tangi Valley is a strategic terrain that connects the two primary highways that lead to Kabul. The article stated that the helicopter crashed after an RPG round impacted the aft rotor assembly. Captain Marquez claims that had the AC-130 been allowed to fire on the remaining enemy insurgents, Extortion 17 would not have been shot down. So if there was a added black box installed on this Aircraft there should be a maintenance record? The crash sent shock waves throughout U.S. special operations. I had to learn how to land while browned-out, wearing NVGs, on the side of a mountain or an uneven field, Lee said. The missions commanders decided to insert another team to go after Tahir while the Rangers held the compound. After some time, another group of about 10 Taliban fighters was spotted that we suspected could be Qari Tahir himself fleeing the scene. I didnt want to die., He remembered the words of his old flight instructor: Never stop flying the aircraft.. 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. 5 U.S. The guy was incredibly skilled.. The True Story Behind the Recovery of Extortion 17 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, Touch device users can explore by touch or with swipe . [11] Seventeen U.S. Navy SEALs remained in reserve at the forward operating base. 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. 360 EXTORTION 17 ideas | extortion, navy seals, seal team 6 - Pinterest The Museum Executive Team worked with these men. Campbell was one of 30. A chief warrant officer 5, a member of the Colorado National Guard, Carter had over 4,500 flying hours, including more than 1,000 hours during combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. - Afghanistan: Honoring the Heroes of Extortion 17 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. 29 Photos Documentary On a moonless night, an Army helicopter carrying 17 members of the elite Navy SEAL Team 6, the unit that killed Osama Bin Laden, is shot down in Afghanistan. Did Extortion 17 cover-up sink Rep. Chaffetz? - WND 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. [7][27][28] During the battle, American forces observed a small group of Taliban trying to flee the scene. The crew of Slasher 02, the AC-130 circling above, flipped the switch on their powerful light. Intelligence on August 6th indicated Qari Tahir was in Tangi Valley, just a short helicopter flight from the SEAL base camp. A senior Afghan government official, speaking anonymously, said that Taliban commander Qari Tahir had fed American forces false information about a meeting of insurgent leaders and fighters waited for the helicopter from both sides of a steep valley: "The Taliban knew which route the helicopter would take. 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. 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. Memorial for anniversary of Extortion 17 helicopter crash 2011 Afghanistan Boeing Chinook shootdown - Wikipedia But Tahir and a group of his fighters escaped. 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. Enterprise. 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. 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. On his first deployment, he felt fortunate to be surrounded by veteran pilots he could learn from.
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