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. 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. 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. All three airmen were assigned to the 24th Special Tactics Squadron, Pope Field, North Carolina. 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. The following passage, published in The Navy Times, seems to support that assertion. 130 Extortion 17 ideas | extortion, seal team 6, navy seals Extortion 17 119 Pins 9y K Collection by Kim&Pauly Us Soldiers Troops Fallen Soldiers Military Personnel Military Men American Soldiers American Heroes Naval Special Warfare Fallen Heroes 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. The crash is referred to as Extortion 17 by the callsign of the CH-47 Chinook helicopter involved in the crash. Humm, to have all the Seal Team 6 members in one place at one time?? unfolded that night are commonly referred to as Extortion 17, which is the call sign for the helicopter transporting the special op-erations personnel. The RPG that struck Extortion 17 threw the helicopter into an uncontrollable spin. A source from the Navys special operations community described the reaction as Shock and disbelief. On August 6th, 2011, the helicopter was fired upon and shot down by a previously undetected group of Taliban fighters. He presents the Final Flight of EXTORTION 17 (spoken one seven and seventeen), like a Defense Attorney or an investigator. The helicopter crashed less than 5 seconds later, killing all 38 people on board. Nearby, there were two enemy fighters with rocket-propelled grenade launchers. To find answers to many of the outstanding questions regarding Extortion 17, a congressional oversight committee held a hearing on February 27, 2014. 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. Theyre going after in very hostile environments, who know the terrain very well, who know the battlescape very well, 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. At 01:00, they decided to engage the group with the SEAL reserves. Monitored and controlled by a Joint Terminal Attack Controller at Forward Operating Base Shank via a General Atomics MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle, all six were positively confirmed killed by the bomb strike and subsequent attacks by a Lockheed AC-130 gunship and two Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopter gunships. [12][13], Six minutes prior to reaching the landing zone, the empty CH-47D left the formation as planned. One of the things I vowed, I will never forget. It wasnt preventable. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 135th Aviation Regiment (General Support Aviation Battalion), Aurora, Colorado, Chief Warrant Officer Bryan J. Nichols, 31, of Hays, Kan. These are the words of Billy Vaughn. 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. 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. Mission commanders, believing that Tahir was likely among one of the groups, deployed an Immediate Reaction Force (IRF) to interdict them while the Rangers held the compound. Extortion 17 and 16 weren't MH-47s and their crews were not Night Stalkers. It is also the most disastrous incident in the. 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. 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. They were part of his command. Lee remained in Afghanistan flying combat missions for another eight months before returning home in the spring of 2012. 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. 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. 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. I didnt want to die., He remembered the words of his old flight instructor: Never stop flying the aircraft.. At 23:30, one of the Apache support helicopters engaged in a brief skirmish with a different group of eight Taliban fighters 400m (440yd) north of the compound, killing six. 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. 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. [43][45], 2011 Afghanistan Boeing Chinook shootdown, United States Air Force Combat Control Team, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), Tangi Valley, Wardak province, Afghanistan, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, Naval Special Warfare Development Group's, Explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) technicians, United States House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, Call Sign Extortion 17: The Shoot-Down of SEAL Team Six, List of aviation accidents and incidents in the war in Afghanistan, "Elite Force Died in Bid to Save Comrades", "Taliban shot that brought down American Chinook killing 30 US commandos was 'lucky', officials believe", "Taliban shoot down US helicopter in Afghanistan; 38 killed", "Worst US loss of life in Afghan war as helicopter crash kills 38", "US military helicopter crash in Afghanistan kills 38", Executive Summary (Crash of CH-47D Aircraft in Wardak Province, Afghanistan on 6 August 2011), "Families suspect SEAL Team 6 crash was inside job on worst day in Afghanistan", "DOD Identifies Service Members Killed in CH-47 Crash", "Tragedy devastates special warfare community", "Friends remember three area soldiers killed in Afghan crash", "Chinook Crewmembers Line of Duty Deaths", "US special forces Afghan helicopter downed by Taliban", "Chopper crash kills 31 U.S. troops, 7 Afghans", "Copter Downed by Taliban Fire; Elite U.S. Unit Among Dead", "Impact on special forces of Navy Seals helicopter loss", "SEAL Team 6 Families Believe the 2011 Chinook Shootdown in Afghanistan was Planned | Navy SEALs Blog by USNavySEALs.com", "Army delayed Chinook helicopter's black box until it was too late", "Obama stonewalls SEAL Team 6 helicopter crash probe, watchdog says", "US helicopter shot down in Afghanistan was sent in after night raid went awry", "US military probes deadly Afghan helicopter crash", "What happened on night of deadly Afghanistan helicopter crash? At the time of the Juy Zarin raid, the battalion had been flying in Afghanistan for about two weeks. He was assigned to the 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (General Support Aviation Battalion), New Century, Kansas, Tech. Neither did the risk he and his pilots faced every night. Play FALLEN ANGEL Call Sign: Extortion 17. Their target: an Afghan named Qari Tahir and his group of fighters. The crash occurred in Tangi Joi Zareen, in the district of Sayd Abad in Wardak Province after it was struck by an. 5 U.S. 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. The second slammed into one of the Chinooks rear rotor blades and exploded, severing 10 feet of it. Aired: 08/01/21 Rating: NR He was probably in the top 1 percent of Army aviators, Lee said. The Final Flight of Extortion 17 It was the deadliest helicopter crash in the history of U.S. special operations. At 02:15, one group of three Taliban fighters took a position in a stand of trees; the remaining six or seven men entered a building located some 2km (1.2mi) from the target compound. 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 . As he did, he felt the craft leveling off. 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 Museum Executive Team worked with these men. The RPG is not a laser. 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. But over time, they became more disturbing, including one that suggested the Taliban had been tipped off by someone inside the Afghan government as revenge for bin Ladens killing. Extortion 17 is a name etched in our minds as one of the worst losses our military has ever experienced. (Photo Credit: Senior Airman Anthony Nin Leclerec / U.S. Air Force / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain) There were a total of 38 individuals onboard Extortion 17. He would eventually do two tours and become commander of a Chinook unit during his second deployment in 2011. 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. American signals intelligence aircraft intercepted these transmissions and subsequently tracked the individual and his accomplice. The insurgents had no way of knowing the helicopter would be coming in, at the speed it was coming and at the altitude, Darack said. Director Franois Garcia Writer Sandeep Panesar Stars Robert O'Neill (archive footage) Patricia Economo Enrique Garcia Or when something went terribly wrong. The Afghan soldiers were an essential part of the package; they were trained to move with our forces to the target. Night Stalker pilots and crew rigorously train for nighttime raids, like the one in Juy Zarin. 3 U.S. Army Reserve personnel from the 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment. Extortion 17 was attached to a mission to capture or kill a senior Taliban leader, Qari Tahir, near Kabul, Afghanistan. I thought I hit a tree,he said. 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. We are here today at the request of many of the families of the fallen heroes aboard Extortion 17 to obtain answers to their ques-tions where answers can be found. #neverforgotten #screwedbygovt #demmandanswers. 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. Burn is on, they radioed. Over time, certain memories will fade, certain details will fade. It was a hard landing, but it would have been worse if they had landed tail first. Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made. Air & Space/Smithsonian contributing editor Ed Darack is the author of The Warriors of Anbar; War Moments; The Final Mission of Extortion 17; Victory Point; and three other books. So many unsettling details are coalescing with the resurgence of Extortion 17. Today. But even a precisely aimed shot fired from an unguided weapon by a seasoned fighter is subject to the ballistics-altering whims of atmospheric variation, subtle and undetected flaws in launcher or projectile, and uncontrollable environmental factors such as wind gusts, large temperature variations, or even particulates in the air. On his right wrist, he wears a bracelet with the names of the five crew members of Extortion 17. It requires the highest level of skills from the pilots because they are some of the most dangerous operations.. 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. About a dozen of the 33 troops in the back of the helicopter suffered broken bones, heavy bruises and scrapes. Your Privacy Rights 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. Soldiers killed in Chinook shot down on Saturday came from 24 U.S. states First full list of names, ages and hometowns revealed - 17 were Navy SEALs Eye witnesses to the crash describe seeing. The Chinook smashed into the ground, the force ripping off his goggles. The circumstances surrounding the events of Extortion 17 are tragic. 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.. To address some unanswered questions, the committee received briefings, classified and unclassified, on the operational component leading up to the loss of the 30 servicemen and eight Afghan nationals and the postmortem handling of the 30 American servicemen on Extortion 17. [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. LOL, Ray Williams 509th RRCUV (Army Security Agency) Feb68-Apr71. Ryan Last. What are the odds? 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. When tactical conditions allow, they initiate operations by calling out enemy forces. The 30 Navy SEALs and other Special Forces personnel, along with the Helicopter flight crew because American Military and Political leaders threw these men under the bus the enemy was driving and then covered it all up with lies and deceit. Through the goggles, the landing zone shone brilliantly. Available for both RF and RM licensing. 2 U.S. Navy SEALs from a west coast-based SEAL team. The forward rotor system then tore off, stressed by the imbalance and the strain of carrying what would normally be a shared load. He taught helicopter pilots how to fly in high altitudes at an aviation training site in Colorado. 2017 The Dallas Morning News. American intelligence officials identified this individual as "OBJECTIVE GINOSA." The second round struck one of the three aft rotor blades of the helicopter, destroying the aft rotor assembly. 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. But U.S. forces didnt know about every fighter during the raid, and they lost track of at least twoone of whom fired the deadly shot. At 2:36 a.m., Extortion 17 requested an infrared spotlight, visible only through night vision goggles, to illuminate the landing zone. Lee, now a captain, was placed in command of a Chinook helicopter unit at Forward Operating Base Shank. 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. One of the best crews in my company. Alexander J. Bennett, 24, of Tacoma, Wash. Instead, two rigorous U. S. military investigations followed every moment of the mission to determine what went wrong on Extortion 17s final flight. [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. Published Aug 6, 2018 5:05 PM EDT. It would never return. The group fired 2-3 RPG rounds from a two-story building from a location some 220 meters south of the helicopter. 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. American, French and Afghan National Police forces carried out a three-day sweep of the area, and the area was then deemed secure. 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 . On August 6, 2011, a U.S. Boeing CH-47 Chinook military helicopter was shot down while transporting a quick reaction force attempting to reinforce an engaged unit of Army Rangers in Wardak province, west of Kabul, Afghanistan. [39], Following the withdrawal of U.S. forces in April 2011, Tangi valley became a major staging area for attacks on Kabul (located just 60 miles away). The group fired two or three RPG rounds from a two-story building, the second striking one of the helicopter's three aft rotor blades. The 30 American Servicemen killed in action (KIA) with the downing of Extortion 17. That June, the U.S. military launched Operation Hammer Down to drive out insurgents entrenched in remote strongholds of eastern Afghanistan. Stock photos, 360 images, vectors and videos Sat 6 Aug 2011 19.08 EDT. [35] The Seattle Times and The New York Times also reported this information. Six weeks into his deployment, Lee experienced his worst day as a helicopter pilot to that point. ", "Taliban laid trap for Chinook: official", "Honor Roll: Remembering the 30 U.S. The helicopter plunged tail first. Pinterest. 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. The hardest LZ Id ever been into, Lee said. LZ is ice, transmitted one of the Rangers on the ground, indicating the landing zone was free of enemy activity. Don Brown, a former U.S. Navy JAG officer stationed at the Pentagon, and former Special Assistant United . [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. The guy was incredibly skilled.. The Extortion 17 chopper was part of Operation Neptune Spear a few months earlier. 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. 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. But what really happened that night? Lee had just flown the night before on a similar mission with one of the pilots, David Carter. Im a 25 year veteran involved in many support missions and I find this downing of Ext 17 very suspect indeed! The U.S. Navy SEAL task force assigned to conduct operations in Tangi Valley was well conditioned to the dangerous operating environment. The theories suggest that Afghan forces leaked information to the Taliban about the mission. Courtesy . The co-pilot, Bryan Nichols, was one of Lees closest friends in the Chinook company. [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. Conspiracy theories started almost immediately. 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. The worst of the wounded was one of Lees crew members, who suffered what was later diagnosed as a severe traumatic brain injury. John W. Brown, 33, of Tallahassee, Florida, Staff Sgt. 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. 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. At 31 U.S. military personnel killed, the shoot down of Extortion 17 represents the greatest single-incident loss of U.S. lives in Operation Enduring Freedom - Afghanistan, surpassing the 16. [9][11], Six minutes later, the Rangers concluded securing the compound, detained several people and began to move on foot toward the crash site. Were handing rifles to 20-year-olds and asking them to shoot people. By Rest in peace, gentlemen; you will not be forgotten. She had just given birth to their first child. This group grew in number over the course of the night, but American forces were at first too preoccupied to engage. Lees second deployment started in May of 2011. | Sgt. Enterprise. 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. 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. For the last two years, hes been an attorney with the law firm Jackson Walker. Chance is still part of the battlefield, says Brady. The crash is referred to as Extortion 17 by the callsign of the CH-47 Chinook helicopter involved in the crash. Ill try to reply the best I can. [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. 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 Joint Combat Assessment Team report further noted that despite a robust deck of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance assets, none identified the location from which the shooters fired prior to the helicopter downing. 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.