Call Sign Extortion 17: The Shoot-Down of SEAL Team Six is a 2015 non-fiction expose, written by best-selling author and former U.S. Navy JAG Officer Don Brown, about the 2011 Chinook shootdown in Afghanistan of a United States Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopter. 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. He was assigned to the 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (General Support Aviation Battalion), New Century, Kansas, Tech. 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. 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. It was reported that the Taliban fighters had no information of the helicopter's flight path and that they had been in the right place at the right time. Photo by Sgt. 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 Spec Ops Magazine 2023 All Rights Reserved. He knew the pilots and crew members aboard Extortion 17. The 30 American Servicemen killed in action (KIA) with the downing of Extortion 17. 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. 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. Directors Karl Horstmann Stephen Spivey Writer Stephen Spivey Stars Sean Hannity Raj Kala And thats fine; thats what you signed up for, Lee said. Where was the Chinook's black box cockpit recorder? On Aug. 6, 2011, on the deadliest day in special operations history, 30 Americans, including 17 Navy SEALs, died when a Chinook helicopter crashed. He was probably in the top 1 percent of Army aviators, Lee said. The Tangi Valley is a strategic terrain that connects the two primary highways that lead to Kabul. In 2006, he was called into Afghanistan, where he turned 25. You never want to use the same landing zone twice, Darack said. By The squadron that this SEAL belonged to was never mentioned. 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. [7][27][28] During the battle, American forces observed a small group of Taliban trying to flee the scene. While the goggles are better than nothing, they turn everything green, distort depth perception and limit peripheral vision. 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, [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. 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. Please take a moment and pause to honor and remember these heroes. The Chinook helicopter they were aboard was shot down by . John W. Brown, 33, of Tallahassee, Florida, Staff Sgt. Campbell was one of 30. 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 any moment, they could come under rocket attack. 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. Find the perfect extortion17 stock photo, image, vector, illustration or 360 image. 2023 Smithsonian Magazine Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Planners then chose a new landing zone for the IRF, but it was large enough to accommodate only one Chinook. 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. And to this day, people are still debating what really happened. The 30 American Servicemen killed in action (KIA) with the downing of Extortion 17. 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. There was a lot of experience in that cockpit, the flight engineers and the door gunners. [29], Other reports alleged that the Taliban had laid an elaborate trap for American special-operations forces, luring them in with false information. The conspiracy theories didnt bother Lee at first. It would never return. 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. Editor's Note: On August 6, 2021, 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. Photo by Sgt. The US soldiers killed in the 2011 Afghanistan Boeing Chinook shoot-down with the call sign Extortion 17 (Photo: XY) SGT Alexander J. Bennett SPC Spencer Duncan (youngest onboard) CWO Bryan J. Nichols The two military investigations, one conducted by United States Central Command and one by the multi-service Joint Combat Assessment Team, pored over the details of the crash with excruciating focus and concluded that no planners or participants bore any fault regarding the circumstances leading to the shootdown of Extortion 17. Buy images; Sell images; One AH-64 crew, after identifying the men as enemy combatants, fired on them with their gunships 30mm cannon, killing six. Director Franois Garcia Writer Sandeep Panesar Stars Robert O'Neill (archive footage) Patricia Economo Enrique Garcia 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.. "Before Benghazi there was Extortion 17.. Saturday August 6 th 2011 was a day that changed the lives of my family forever. As the ground assault force rushed toward Tahirs compound, Extortion 17 and 16 sped back to base, where they were refueled, and awaited word to extract the team, evacuate wounded, or race reinforcing troops to Juy Zarin. I am so proud to be an American and I thank all of the families left behind to mourn their loss. Terms of Use [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? 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. Photo: We pay Tribute Chief Petty Officer Nicholas H. Null Operation Extortion 17 August 6, 2011 You may leave a condolence for his family on our YouTube channel https://youtu.be/L2lB37qizaI Comebacks Photo Photo: We pay Tribute to Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Stephen M. Mills Operation Extortion 17 August 6, 2011 Battalion Regiment Warrant Officer The image released and purported to be Bin Laden was a blended image of an old Bin Laden pic and an image of a different terrorist that was killed in battle. (Smithsonian Books, September 2017). Andrew W. Harvell, 26, of Long Beach, California, Tech. 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. They heard a helicopter coming, they grabbed their RPGs, and they fired in quick succession, Darack said. Just as ridiculous as saying [President George W.] Bush was responsible for 9/11, Lee said. He pushed hard on the cyclic stick to tilt the helicopter forward. Yesterday, the Pentagon released the names of the 30 troops-- Navy SEALs, soldiers, and airmen, killed in the helicopter downed by Taliban fighters in eastern Afghanistan last weekend. For example, on 8 June 2011 another Chinook helicopter was engaged from five to six locations (i.e., points of origin) with 14 rocket-propelled grenades, forcing the crew to abort their mission. Naval Special Warfare support personnel: Two, 3 U.S. Army Reserve personnel (Aircrew) from the, This page was last edited on 2 March 2023, at 20:01. The call sign for the Chinook was Extortion 17. 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. Sgt. 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. Ryan Last. In April 2011, American forces turned over control of Combat Outpost Tangi to Afghan government forces. God bless all of them- the bravest of the brave. Stock photos, 360 images, vectors and videos 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. Its like taking a paper towel roll, cutting it in half and strapping it to your eye, Lee said. His account of the brave pilots, crew, and passengers of Extortion 17 . LZ is ice, transmitted one of the Rangers on the ground, indicating the landing zone was free of enemy activity. As he did, he felt the craft leveling off. 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. Naval Special Warfare support personnel, two EOD technicians, one MWD Handler, one Cryptologic technician, and one Information systems technician. Despite the risk, operations like these were taking place with such frequency in Afghanistan they only made news when they produced a spectacular success, like the bin Laden mission. 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. Sometimes the enemy succeeds in delivering one of these To whom it may concern projectiles. Ed Darack March 2015 The Chinook's cargo capacity, speed,. 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 sheer amount of experience with our pilots, flight engineers and back-seaters and mechanics offered a wealth of knowledge, he said. At the time of the Juy Zarin raid, the battalion had been flying in Afghanistan for about two weeks. The mission was flown by conventional pilots flying unmodified CH-47Ds. [9][11], Six minutes later, the Rangers concluded securing the compound, detained several people and began to move on foot toward the crash site. The guy was incredibly skilled.. The resulting explosion destroyed the aft rotor assembly. See more ideas about extortion, navy seals, seal team 6. Forces Killed in Helicopter Crash", "30 Americans Killed in Afghanistan Helicopter Crash", "Pentagon names 30 Americans killed in downed Afghan chopper", "Pentagon releases names of 30 Americans killed in Afghanistan helicopter crash", "22 Navy SEALs among 30 U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan as NATO helicopter is shot down", "30 Americans, including 22 Navy SEALs, killed in Afghan copter crash", "Names of Afghan Helicopter Attack Victims Released", "The OBJECTIVE GINOSA strike Payback for the shootdown of Extortion 17", "Military killed Taliban who downed US helicopter", "Afghan soldiers enter a Taliban nest without U.S. troops by their side", "Congress to probe lethal crash that killed SEAL Team 6 members", "A retired Air Force captain says Pentagon covered up real cause of deadly chopper crash", "A Retired Air Force Captain Says Pentagon Covered Up Real Cause of Deadly Chopper Crash", "Rules of Engagement Are a Dilemma for U.S. 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. [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. 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. 2017 The Dallas Morning News. Regarding the downing of Extortion 17, all of the DEVGRU Operators aboard were members of the Gold Squadron. All three airmen were assigned to the 24th Special Tactics Squadron, Pope Field, North Carolina. We were told at that time we were the first unit to make it through a rotation without having anyone killed.. On this night, Aug. 6, 2011, something went terribly wrong. His father Billy Vaughn recounted Thursday a phone call from his son following the White House . He said that insurgents had assumed a strong tactical position without knowledge of the helicopter's flight path. 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. Landing in deserts or mountainsides, the helicopter rotors kick up clouds of sand and dust, causing brownouts that can blind a pilot. Thirty-eight boarded Extortion 17 Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopter pilots from the 159th General Support Aviation Battalion. Aired: 08/01/21 Rating: NR Missions like this one to insert or remove an assault force are the military equivalent of a perfect 10 in the Olympics equal parts skill, experience and daring. The second round struck one of the three aft rotor blades of the helicopter, destroying the aft rotor assembly. 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. Its almost always a miss.. 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. In March 2002, two MH-47s were downed by machine gun and rocket-propelled grenade fire while close to ground level. [11], At 02:00, the special operations task force commander and the Immediate Reaction Force commander decided to add additional (non-SEAL) reinforcements, increasing the size of the team to 33. The "had Seal team 6 killed" is a likely reference to what's known as the "Extortion 17" incident, the August 2011 tragedy in which a Chinook military helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan,. It was a good crew, it really was. 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. Every mission is potentially life-threatening. Just three months earlier, members of a counterpart SEAL Team 6 squadron successfully raided a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and killed Osama bin Laden. 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. In combat, its mission is to transport large teams of elite assault troops, including Army Rangers and Navy SEALs, to and from the battlefield. Also if an Afghan soldier member of this team opened fire on this seal team then way was all the bodies Cremated and evidence destroyed?? May God give them the strength to carry on without them. Around 02:23, the two helicopters departed the forward base. All topics Extortion 17 Documentary Soon after US Navy Cryptologist Michael Strange and the elite SEAL Team 6 capture and kill Bin Laden, they are deployed to Afghanistan, where their Chinook is shot down. The night before he left to go to Fort Hood, where he would board a plane to Afghanistan, the biggest event of the 10-year war occurred: Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan during a raid by Navy SEALs. 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. Extortion 16 flew empty. 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. Chance is still part of the battlefield, says Brady. Nearby, there were two enemy fighters with rocket-propelled grenade launchers. 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. 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. Insurgents fired at the Chinook, severed one of. Sgt. The remaining two fighters ducked into a stand of trees and disappeared from the Apaches infrared scanners. The Chinook is often used to assist in disaster relief, delivering food and water after earthquakes and floods. 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. The aircraft jerked. 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. The co-pilot, Bryan Nichols, was one of Lees closest friends in the Chinook company. [43][44], American rules of engagement were tightened by Gen. Stanley McChrystal in 2009 in order to improve American counterinsurgency strategy. He is the founder of Darack Research, a company that innovates unmanned systems, which grew out of his July 2014 Air & Space article Build Your Own Drone. 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. 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. I was terrified. As Extortion 17 moved into final approach of the target area at 0238 local time, the Rangers on the ground watched in horror as it took a direct hit from an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade). 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. Enterprise. extortion 17 crash photos. 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. We had guys who had flown in Desert Storm, guys who had just come off active duty, Lee said. The crash occurred in Tangi Joi Zareen, in the district of Sayd Abad in Wardak Province after it was struck by an. In a new book The Final Mission of Extortion 17 published by Smithsonian Books, journalist and photographer Ed Darack revisits the shootdown of Extortion 17, a Chinook bearing U.S. and . Why did it happen? [33], The New York Post reported that the Pentagon released 30 names from the crash. The helicopters are capacious and fast, and they can perform well in Afghanistans performance-degrading high altitudes and heat. The following passage, published in The Navy Times, seems to support that assertion. Why was the black box missing from the crash site? If this was survivable, that was the right crew to have. Not feelin it! Recovery of wreckage from the crash site lasted until 9 August 2011. [11] Going forward, the two AH-64 Apache helicopters would be engaged in tracking those two groups of Taliban, and hence unable to provide surveillance or fire support to the inbound helicopter carrying the SEAL team. Ill try to reply the best I can. The helicopter, call sign Extortion 17, was on a mission to reinforce American and coalition special operations troops. 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. [11], Separately, ISR aircraft continued to observe the unengaged group from the compound. You also want to come in from a different direction for the element of surprise.. Advertising Notice They were part of his command. [12][13], Six minutes prior to reaching the landing zone, the empty CH-47D left the formation as planned. But we are still sending people to another country to fight, and we need to understand why were doing that, he said. 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. #neverforgotten #screwedbygovt #demmandanswers. [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. So if there was a added black box installed on this Aircraft there should be a maintenance record? In The Final Flight of Extortion 17, Ed Darack debunks this theory and others and uncovers the truth behind this mysterious tragedy. [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. ", "Taliban laid trap for Chinook: official", "Honor Roll: Remembering the 30 U.S. 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. It was brought down by multiple shots. There is a lot of controversy and discussion regarding the operators from the Gold Squadron who died abroad. Instead, two rigorous U. S. military investigations followed every moment of the mission to determine what went wrong on Extortion 17s final flight. When the Boeing CH-47D Chinook helicopter was hit, all 38 onboard were instantly killed. Lee, now a captain, was placed in command of a Chinook helicopter unit at Forward Operating Base Shank. With a keen understanding of the propaganda value of downing Coalition helicopters, the Taliban single them out as targets. 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. Extortion 17 and 16 weren't MH-47s and their crews were not Night Stalkers. Connor Mendez, courtesy of U.S. Army. The United States military continually works to improve protection for transport helicopters and their occupants, according to Glover and Brady. In March 2009, the U.S. 10th Mountain Division established a base in Tangi Valley after increased Taliban activity in the area. Two investigations of the incident proved inconclusive. According to officials, the team included 17 SEALs, five Navy special operations troops who support the SEALs, three Air Force airmen, a five-member Army air crew and a military dog, along with. The U.S. Navy SEAL task force assigned to conduct operations in Tangi Valley was well conditioned to the dangerous operating environment. The crash sent shock waves throughout U.S. special operations. The SEAL Team 6 community was devastated. Intelligence on August 6th indicated Qari Tahir was in Tangi Valley, just a short helicopter flight from the SEAL base camp. Theres no precedent for this. Or when something went terribly wrong. Nothing tests the capabilities of a young helicopter pilot like flying in the extreme conditions of Afghanistan. BUT the Chief Command and those who elected him will pay for there failure to seek Yahwahs guidance before going to war or to vote for a new president! Extortion 17 August 6, 2022 marks 11 years since Extortion 17. 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 article stated that the helicopter crashed after an RPG round impacted the aft rotor assembly. Play FALLEN ANGEL Call Sign: Extortion 17. We were on goggles the whole time. The next night, the pair had orders to drop off more troops in the same spot. They reached the site at 04:12 and found no survivors. 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. So the whole team went in one Chinook helicopter Extortion 17. That June, the U.S. military launched Operation Hammer Down to drive out insurgents entrenched in remote strongholds of eastern Afghanistan. It also became one of the most devastating death tolls of the U.S. Special Operations Forces. She had just given birth to their first child. One of the engines flew off, and the other caught fire. Sat 6 Aug 2011 19.08 EDT. The five other Navy casualties were NSW (Naval Special Warfare) support personnel; in addition to these, three AFSOC operators, one Combat Controller and two Pararescuemen, all members of the 24th Special Tactics Squadron, died in the crash.