Advertising Notice The sheer amount of experience with our pilots, flight engineers and back-seaters and mechanics offered a wealth of knowledge, he said. LOL, Ray Williams 509th RRCUV (Army Security Agency) Feb68-Apr71. [11][24] These reports were erroneous; the CH-47D airframe does not contain flight recorders, although the MH-47 variant does have a flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder. 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. 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.
U.S. Army Helicopter Extortion 17 Shot Down - YouTube Many of these SEALs were made famous, credited with the killing of Osama bin Laden. 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. Planners then chose a new landing zone for the IRF, but it was large enough to accommodate only one Chinook. Extortion 17 was attached to a mission to capture or kill a senior Taliban leader, Qari Tahir, near Kabul, Afghanistan. The shootdown was the single, deadliest loss of U.S. forces in the war. 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 call sign for the Chinook was Extortion 17. Around 2:40 a.m., an Apache pilot flying in support came on the radio and shouted: Fallen Angel.
Call Sign Extortion 17 - Wikipedia The Chinook helicopter they were aboard was shot down by . Classified reports, published by Wikileaks, teem with notes from pilots and crew of all types of military helicopters who saw RPG attacks throughout the war.
Extortion17 hi-res stock photography and images - Alamy 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. Explore. 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. 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. He taught helicopter pilots how to fly in high altitudes at an aviation training site in Colorado. 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. 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? [11], By 16:25, all of the remains were taken from the crash site via ground convoy and transported to Combat Outpost Sayyid Abad. #neverforgotten #screwedbygovt #demmandanswers. Winds whipped through the fir trees. In 2006, he was called into Afghanistan, where he turned 25. [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 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. As the operation got underway, our airborne Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) platforms, including an MQ-9 Predator, detected a group evading the Rangers, moving towards the north. About a dozen of the 33 troops in the back of the helicopter suffered broken bones, heavy bruises and scrapes.
Extortion 17, Seal Team Six and What Really Happened on the - Newsweek Find the perfect extortion 17 stock photo, image, vector, illustration or 360 image. All content is protected by copyright and may not be used for commercial purposes without prior written permission. 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. Thirty Americans perished in the blink of an eye, half of which comprised an entire 'troop' from SEAL Team 6's Gold Squadron.
Extortion 17 - National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum 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. 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. Caring is more than just slapping a bumper sticker on your car, he said. The second shot hit the rear tail rotor assembly. He knew the pilots and crew members aboard Extortion 17. Afghanistan has long been a counter-insurgency campaign: The United States strategy has been to win Afghan trust through cooperation and aid. Located in a remote and dangerous province in eastern Afghanistan, the base was the target of near-constant rocket attacks from Taliban insurgents. The helicopter carrying the SEALs proceeded to the landing zone alone, without external lighting. On such missions, the Chinook pilots nearly always fly at night, wearing night vision goggles, or NVGs. I didnt want to die., He remembered the words of his old flight instructor: Never stop flying the aircraft.. The Chinook smashed into the ground, the force ripping off his goggles. It also became one of the most devastating death tolls of the U.S. Special Operations Forces. Since the shootdown of Extortion 17, the military has continued to gain vital experience and equipment to enable an ever greater understanding of an enemy force, aiming to know every combatant and potential combatant and his weapon system before a raid. Connor Mendez, courtesy of U.S. Army. The duo may also have had no ties to Tahir or any of his suspected fighters, and attacked the helicopter on their own. The second round struck one of the three aft rotor blades of the helicopter, destroying the aft rotor assembly. [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). 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.. Theyre going after in very hostile environments, who know the terrain very well, who know the battlescape very well, Darack said. [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. 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. Connor Mendez, courtesy of U.S. Army. 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 first grenade missed Extortion 17. Conspiracy theories started almost immediately. Extortion 17 and 16 werent MH-47s and their crews were not Night Stalkers. Extortion 17 is a name etched in our minds as one of the worst losses our military has ever experienced. God sees you, You do see that A-12(1963! 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. This hearing also serves to They reached the site at 04:12 and found no survivors.
The Final Mission of Extortion 17: Special Ops, Helicopter Support The conspiracy theories didnt bother Lee at first. 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]. 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. Commanders frequently request CH-47 Chinooks to insert troops. The tempo of the missions did not decrease. August 6, 2022 marks 11 years since Extortion 17. Were handing rifles to 20-year-olds and asking them to shoot people. The worst of the wounded was one of Lees crew members, who suffered what was later diagnosed as a severe traumatic brain injury. 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. The United States military continually works to improve protection for transport helicopters and their occupants, according to Glover and Brady. Extortion 17 was the call sign of a special operations mission in Afghanistan on Aug. 6, 2011, that responded to an Army Ranger unit engaged in a firefight with the Taliban and in need of backup. 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.
Extortion 17: What really happened on America's deadliest day in Pentagon names 30 Americans killed in downed Afghan chopper - NBC News U.S. Army Helicopter "EXTORTION 17" Shot Down - PBS.org Early life
SEAL Team 6 & Extortion 17 Families Suspect Crash Was Inside Job 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. 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. One of the most significant tactical evolutions of the Afghanistan conflict is the ever-heavier use of unmanned aerial systems and other airborne intelligence-gathering systems. Chance is still part of the battlefield, says Brady. Spec Ops Magazine 2023 All Rights Reserved. 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 military has worked diligently to more tightly integrate gunship escorts with transport craft, according to Brady. Patrick D. Hamburger, 30, of Lincoln, Neb. [35] The Seattle Times and The New York Times also reported this information. He said, "And now, to our honor roll of American Service Personnel killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. In March 2002, two MH-47s were downed by machine gun and rocket-propelled grenade fire while close to ground level. I am so proud to be an American and I thank all of the families left behind to mourn their loss. [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."
The true story behind the recovery of Extortion 17 One rocket struck a rotor blade, causing the aircraft to crash almost instantly. 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.