The group fired 2-3 RPG rounds from a two-story building from a location some 220 meters south of the helicopter. [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). by FighterSweep Staff Apr 25, 2017 Retired Air Force Captain Joni Marquez is claiming the Pentagon hid the truth and lied about the circumstances that led to a Chinook helicopter crash that. 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. Its a math problem. 2017 The Dallas Morning News. Downing of Extortion 17: The Single Deadliest Incident of the US War in The helicopter made its last radio transmission stating that it was one minute away from the landing zone, then descended to an altitude of 100150ft (3046m) and slowed to a speed of 50kn (58mph; 93km/h) as it approached the landing zone. 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. 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. 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. Seconds later, with the Chinook just over 100 feet off the ground and traveling at 58 mph, two or three previously unseen fighters emerged from the tower of a two-story building roughly 220 yards south of the helicopter, shouldering RPG launchers. The U.S. Navy SEAL task force assigned to conduct operations in Tangi Valley was well conditioned to the dangerous operating environment. Call Sign Extortion 17 : The Shoot-Down of SEAL Team Six Six weeks into his deployment, Lee experienced his worst day as a helicopter pilot to that point. Extortion 17 sped alone toward the landing zone. Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service. Humm, to have all the Seal Team 6 members in one place at one time?? [35] The Seattle Times and The New York Times also reported this information. 5 U.S. The IRF commander then made a critical decision: In order to get everyone on the ground as quickly as possible and deny the Taliban time to react, he ordered the entire force to fly in Extortion 17. After some time, another group of about 10 Taliban fighters was spotted that we suspected could be Qari Tahir himself fleeing the scene. Warnings from her crew to turn the Chinook back or cancel their mission went unheeded. FALLEN ANGEL Call Sign: Extortion 17 | SalemNOW We continue our work at the Museum so that theirservice and sacrifice will never be forgotten. Stock photos, 360 images, vectors and videos. They were part of his command. Oct 26, 2016 - Explore Concerned Citizen's board "EXTORTION 17", followed by 829 people on Pinterest. In mid-2011, combined with a U.S. Army aviation battalion, they had spent weeks conducting operations nearly every other night in Wardak and surrounding provinces south of Kabul to capture or kill Taliban forces, disrupt attack plots, and deny them sanctuary on this strategic approach to Kabul City. Deadliest Day in Spec Ops History: The Extortion-17 Chinook Crash Extortion 17 was attached to a mission to capture or kill a senior Taliban leader, Qari Tahir, near Kabul, Afghanistan. Photo by Jake Simkin for Coffee or Die Magazine. 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 . The helicopter plunged tail first. It was a good crew, it really was. Extortion 17 Is A Bigger Scandal and Betrayal Than Benghazi Extortion 17 and its 38 occupants would not return. [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 Costliest Day in SEAL Team Six History - HISTORY Its like taking a paper towel roll, cutting it in half and strapping it to your eye, Lee said. Editors note: This story originally appeared in October 2017. He was assigned to the 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment(General Support Aviation Battalion), New Century, Kansas, Staff Sgt. 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. The true story behind the recovery of Extortion 17 The RPG is not a laser. 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. Neither did the risk he and his pilots faced every night. Some 30 seconds later, one of the AH-64 Apache helicopters in the area reported: Fallen Angel.. [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. One AH-64 crew, after identifying the men as enemy combatants, fired on them with their gunships 30mm cannon, killing six. To find answers to many of the outstanding questions regarding Extortion 17, a congressional oversight committee held a hearing on February 27, 2014. But no one died. I was terrified. "The downing of Extortion 17 was a catastrophic and unprecedented tragedy for our nation," Reid testified. Lee heard the call, and he knew what it meant. Did Extortion 17 cover-up sink Rep. Chaffetz? - WND The extreme G-forces killed everyone on board within a fraction of a second, Darack said. 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? 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. 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 first grenade missed Extortion 17. Critics blame Biden for Extortion 17 attack. Photo by Sgt. | "Before Benghazi there was Extortion 17.. Saturday August 6 th 2011 was a day that changed the lives of my family forever. The Extortion 17 chopper was part of Operation Neptune Spear a few months earlier. American intelligence officials identified this individual as "OBJECTIVE GINOSA." LZ is ice, transmitted one of the Rangers on the ground, indicating the landing zone was free of enemy activity. The vast majority miss. Chance is still part of the battlefield, says Brady. Extortion 17 - National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum No evidence has emerged to support any of these claims. 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. Fact check: Biden did not leak SEAL Team 6 identities - USA TODAY Extortion 17 and 16 weren't MH-47s and their crews were not Night Stalkers. Courtesy . He would eventually do two tours and become commander of a Chinook unit during his second deployment in 2011. The previous highest U.S. death toll from a single incident in the war came from a rocket attack on a Chinook helicopter carrying Navy SEALs during Operation Red Wings on June 28, 2005. The helicopter fell from the sky, killing all 38 on board. One of the best crews in my company. #neverforgotten #screwedbygovt #demmandanswers. The incident became known as "Extortion 17" after the helicopter . 360 EXTORTION 17 ideas | extortion, navy seals, seal team 6 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. Whether enemy fire brought down the Chinook or a tree strike would never be known for sure. We were on goggles the whole time. 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. ], Four years after the downing of Extortion 17, there were many theories about a possible government coverup. The Final Flight of Extortion 17 - Smithsonian Magazine In The Final Flight of Extortion 17, Ed Darack debunks this theory and others and uncovers the truth behind this mysterious tragedy. And why was the fire control officer of the AC-130 Gunship flying above denied permission . They are not the same SEALs, and these two events are not connected to one another. (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. 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. So where did it go?? The guy was incredibly skilled.. The call sign for the Chinook was Extortion 17. The helicopter crashed less than 5 seconds later, killing all 38 people on board. Theres no precedent for this. Austin Williams visits the gravesite of U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Christopher C. Campbell in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day, May 30, 2016. He knew the pilots and crew members aboard Extortion 17. 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. 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. With 38 people killed on board, it was the largest single-day loss of life in naval special warfare history and the largest single-day loss of life during the war in Afghanistan. | REMEMBERING EXTORTION 17 - Survive the News 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. His father Billy Vaughn recounted Thursday a phone call from his son following the White House . When the Boeing CH-47D Chinook helicopter was hit, all 38 onboard were instantly killed. It just wasnt.. 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. Our area of operation was the entire country of Iraq, and every mission was at night, says David Pat Gates, a pilot with Carters unit , the 2nd Battalion, 135th Aviation Regiment (2-135th), a Colorado Army National Guard unit based in Aurora, Colorado. A Black Hawk Down of the war in Afghanistan, the deadliest day for the U.S. in 12 years of that conflictand a military investigation that covered up evidence of an inside job by the Taliban. I thought I hit a tree,he said. It does not fly in a straight line, and there is no way to know what exact path it will takejust a fairly good idea of its trajectory.. 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 . Extortion 17: What really happened on America's deadliest day in And thats fine; thats what you signed up for, Lee said. Rest in peace, gentlemen; you will not be forgotten. 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. 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. It requires the highest level of skills from the pilots because they are some of the most dangerous operations.. [39], During the same Pentagon news conference in which he announced that the F-16 airstrike had incapacitated "less than 10" of the insurgents involved, International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) commander in Afghanistan John R. Allen said that the military investigation would also review whether small-arms fire or other causes might have contributed to the downing. Conspiracy theories started almost immediately. He was probably in the top 1 percent of Army aviators, Lee said. The team boarded Extortion 17 with Dave Carter and Bryan Nichols at the controls. 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. 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. Insurgents fired at the Chinook, severed one of. Afghanistan has long been a counter-insurgency campaign: The United States strategy has been to win Afghan trust through cooperation and aid. [12][13], Six minutes prior to reaching the landing zone, the empty CH-47D left the formation as planned. Lee had just flown the night before on a similar mission with one of the pilots, David Carter. The crash is referred to as Extortion 17 by the callsign of the CH-47 Chinook helicopter involved in the crash. At 2:36 a.m., Extortion 17 requested an infrared spotlight, visible only through night vision goggles, to illuminate the landing zone. 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. During a previous deployment to Iraq, Carters unit flew dozens of similar raids, which he often planned and led, and gained a reputation for working well with special operations troops. 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. Should the Apache pilots have fired into the stand of trees after the two fighters ducked out of sight? This tactic was highly successful; hundreds of operations were conducted without firing a shot for years. Three hours after disembarking from the Chinooks, the assault force had secured the compound and detained a number of Tahirs men, but they hadnt found Tahir himself. extortion 17 crash photos. Extortion 17, Seal Team Six and What Really Happened on the - Newsweek All three airmen were assigned to the 24th Special Tactics Squadron, Pope Field, North Carolina. [26], The U.S. military helicopter carrying special operations forces to a night-raid in the Tangi Valley of Wardak Province, was most likely brought down by a rocket-propelled grenade, according to military officials. Were asking people to do incredible things. They reached the site at 04:12 and found no survivors. [36][37], After the shootdown of Extortion 17, the insurgent responsible used a two-way radio to brag to others about the act. Explore. 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. Where was the Chinook's black box cockpit recorder? The duo may also have had no ties to Tahir or any of his suspected fighters, and attacked the helicopter on their own. A catastrophic crash seemed unavoidable. An official investigation found no evidence of a pre-planned ambush, though it did suggest that other helicopter activity in the area could have tipped off Taliban fighters that more helicopters could be approaching, according to the report. Originally just two people, the group eventually swelled to a total of nine or ten fighters, and the special operations task force commander and the Immediate Reaction Force commander became concerned that it might include Tahir. The Taliban shot at the Chinooks all the time with RPGs and rifles, Darack said. See more ideas about extortion, navy seals, seal team 6. Extortion 17: The Mission and the Tragedy in Afghanistan The Chinook helicopter they were aboard was shot down by . The conspiracy theories didnt bother Lee at first. Downing of Extortion 17: The Single Deadliest Incident of the US War in There is still a tremendous level of chance for a tragedy of such huge magnitude.. 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. REMEMBERING EXTORTION 17 - Survival Magazine & News Robert J. Reeves: A Navy SEAL who died in Extortion 17 - Spec Ops Magazine Instead, two rigorous U. S. military investigations followed every moment of the mission to determine what went wrong on Extortion 17s final flight. The Final Mission of Extortion 17: Special Ops, Helicop So many unsettling details are coalescing with the resurgence of Extortion 17. . Two fired at roughly the same time. 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. The mission was flown by conventional pilots flying unmodified CH-47Ds. The group probably contained the commander and a few of his bodyguards, while the remaining Taliban fighters offered resistance in an effort to buy the group enough time to escape. 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. One of the things I vowed, I will never forget. A junior, he was ready to fight, but the war would be over, he figured, before he even got out of college. 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. 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. Sat 6 Aug 2011 19.08 EDT. Why did it happen? Advertising Notice Two of the SEALs were from a West Coast SEAL unit, but the others were from the Gold Squadron of Naval Special Warfare Development Group, or DEVGRU, sometimes known as SEAL Team 6, said the NSW source.. He finished his contract with the Army shortly afterward, and that September enrolled in Southern Methodist Universitys Dedman School of Law. On Aug. 6, 2011, insurgent forces in Afghanistan shot down an American aircraft. 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. At the flight controls were David R. Carter of the Colorado Army National Guard and copilot Bryan J. Nichols, a Kansas-based Army reservist. Here, in silence, are the names and photographs of all 30 men. 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. Around 02:23, the two helicopters departed the forward base. In 2006, he was called into Afghanistan, where he turned 25. Seven Afghan National Army commandos and one Afghan civilian interpreter were also killed in the crash. For the last two years, hes been an attorney with the law firm Jackson Walker. Senior Chief Robert James Reeves was one of those Americans. 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. The Chinook headed to a different landing zone than the first assault team one in the narrowest part of the Tangi Valley. The sheer amount of experience with our pilots, flight engineers and back-seaters and mechanics offered a wealth of knowledge, he said. While the goggles are better than nothing, they turn everything green, distort depth perception and limit peripheral vision.