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. This tactic was highly successful; hundreds of operations were conducted without firing a shot for years. But why? The basis of the provocative hit military documentary Fallen Angel Call Sign: Extortion 17. Andrew W. Harvell, 26, of Long Beach, California, Tech. Stock photos, 360 images, vectors and videos. It would never return. The Chinook headed to a different landing zone than the first assault team one in the narrowest part of the Tangi Valley. 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. Call Sign Extortion 17: The Shoot-Down of SEAL Team Six Retired Air Force Captain Says Pentagon Lied About Cause of - SOFREP The Final Mission of Extortion 17: Special Ops, Helicopter Support Joe Biden, Susan Rice, and Seal Team Six - American Thinker Night Stalker pilots and crew rigorously train for nighttime raids, like the one in Juy Zarin. 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. Get the latest in military news, entertainment and gear in your inbox daily. For helicopter crews in Afghanistan, the most dangerous times are landing and taking off. This group grew in number over the course of the night, but American forces were at first too preoccupied to engage. 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. 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. Spencer C. Duncan, 21, of Olathe, Kan. "Before Benghazi there was Extortion 17.. Saturday August 6 th 2011 was a day that changed the lives of my family forever. Enterprise. It wasnt preventable. The U.S. Navy SEAL task force assigned to conduct operations in Tangi Valley was well conditioned to the dangerous operating environment. . Warnings from her crew to turn the Chinook back or cancel their mission went unheeded. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Directors Karl Horstmann Stephen Spivey Writer Stephen Spivey Stars Sean Hannity Raj Kala Critics blame Biden for Extortion 17 attack. 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. The next night, the pair had orders to drop off more troops in the same spot. 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. In The Final Flight of Extortion 17, Ed Darack debunks this theory and others and uncovers the truth behind this mysterious tragedy. ", "Taliban laid trap for Chinook: official", "Honor Roll: Remembering the 30 U.S. Were asking people to do incredible things. Many of these SEALs were made famous, credited with the killing of Osama bin Laden. American intelligence officials identified this individual as "OBJECTIVE GINOSA." REMEMBERING EXTORTION 17 - Survive the News The landing zone had been examined for a previous mission but had not yet been used. 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. 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. In light of that raids success, the shootdown of Extortion 17 incited a flurry of conspiracy theories: The Taliban were tipped off; it was a trap; it was retribution for the killing. The Extortion 17 chopper was part of Operation Neptune Spear a few months earlier. Extortion 17 - National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum He said, "And now, to our honor roll of American Service Personnel killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. In fact, the conflict was heating up. On Aug. 6, 2011, on the deadliest day in special operations history, 30 Americans, including 17 Navy SEALs, died when a Chinook helicopter crashed. The SEAL Team 6 community was devastated. (Smithsonian Books, September 2017). 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. Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service. [42], In 2017, Air Force captain Joni Marquez, the firing officer on an AC-130 gunship that had accompanied Extortion 17 on the final flight, made a similar claim. [12][13], Six minutes prior to reaching the landing zone, the empty CH-47D left the formation as planned. 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. Patrick D. Hamburger, 30, of Lincoln, Neb. The call sign for the Chinook was Extortion 17. Senior Chief Robert James Reeves was one of those Americans. SEAL Team 6 & Extortion 17 Families Suspect Crash Was Inside Job At the flight controls were David R. Carter of the Colorado Army National Guard and copilot Bryan J. Nichols, a Kansas-based Army reservist. At the time of the Juy Zarin raid, the battalion had been flying in Afghanistan for about two weeks. 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. The incident became known as "Extortion 17" after the helicopter . It was the deadliest helicopter crash in the history of U.S. special operations. 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. Director Franois Garcia Writer Sandeep Panesar Stars Robert O'Neill (archive footage) Patricia Economo Enrique Garcia As for himself, he speaks out about Extortion 17 because he wants to remember the men on that mission. The second slammed into one of the Chinooks rear rotor blades and exploded, severing 10 feet of it. And thats fine; thats what you signed up for, Lee said. Why did it happen? 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 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. 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. 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. 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. Theyre going after in very hostile environments, who know the terrain very well, who know the battlescape very well, Darack said. 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. The helicopter, call sign Extortion 17, was on a mission to reinforce American and coalition special operations troops. 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. "[30], On 12 August 2011, Jim Lehrer of the PBS NewsHour announced that he would report the Honor Roll at the end of the program with names and photographs of all 30 men. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Geneva G. Brier/Released) [11], The mission was deemed high risk; two AH-64 Apache helicopters, an AC-130 gunship, and other additional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft supported the troop transports on their approach and remained with the ground forces afterwards. Planners then chose a new landing zone for the IRF, but it was large enough to accommodate only one Chinook. And to this day, people are still debating what really happened. Intelligence had revealed Tahir to be the senior Taliban chief of the Tangi Valley region, with probable ties to upper-echelon Taliban leadership in Pakistan. So the whole team went in one Chinook helicopter Extortion 17. Published Aug 6, 2018 5:05 PM EDT. A few minutes past 2 a.m.on August 6, 2011, at a dusty forward operating base40 miles south of Kabul, Afghanistan, the rotors of two U.S. Army CH-47D Chinooks began to turn. August 2011 Attack on U.S. Troops in Afghanistan | C-SPAN.org [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). 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. But at least you should care about them and appreciate what were asking of them.. His account of the brave pilots, crew, and passengers of Extortion 17 and . Stock photos, 360 images, vectors and videos Intelligence on August 6th indicated Qari Tahir was in Tangi Valley, just a short helicopter flight from the SEAL base camp. The true story behind the recovery of Extortion 17 Neither did the risk he and his pilots faced every night. [11], By 16:25, all of the remains were taken from the crash site via ground convoy and transported to Combat Outpost Sayyid Abad. New documentary investigates events surrounding Extortion 17 helicopter