extortion 17 crash photos

Your Privacy Rights In April 2011, American forces turned over control of Combat Outpost Tangi to Afghan government forces. 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. 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 . [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). On Aug. 6, 2011, on the deadliest day in special operations history, 30 Americans, including 17 Navy SEALs, died when a Chinook helicopter crashed. Its crazy how many times I can think of where me or the guys I was with had to do that.. The Afghan soldiers were an essential part of the package; they were trained to move with our forces to the target. Carter and Nichols continued the descent. | See more ideas about extortion, navy seals, seal team 6. 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. 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. Regarding the downing of Extortion 17, all of the DEVGRU Operators aboard were members of the Gold Squadron. The events that unfolded that night are commonly referred to as Extortion 17, the call sign for the helicopter transporting the special operations personnel. During the Ranger insertion earlier that night, the CH-47D had approached from the south; this time, it approached from the northwest. The helicopter fell from the sky, killing all 38 on board. Get the latest in military news, entertainment and gear in your inbox daily. Will this ever be exposed! The crash is referred to as Extortion 17 by the callsign of the CH-47 Chinook helicopter involved in the crash. Ryan Last. 5 U.S. 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. 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. 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. [11] At 22:37 (local time) on the night of 5 August, a platoon of 47 U.S. Army Rangers left a forward operating base in Logar Province via two CH-47D transport helicopters, one of which would later be involved in the accident. Buy images; Sell images; Just as ridiculous as saying [President George W.] Bush was responsible for 9/11, Lee said. It was a hard landing, but it would have been worse if they had landed tail first. No evidence has emerged to support any of these claims. 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. Terms of Use The conspiracy theories didnt bother Lee at first. The workhorse in Army aviation, the tandem rotor, heavy-lift Chinook helicopter is used for carrying troops, equipment, supplies and even the mail. They were part of the same Army Reserve unit, 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment based in Gardner, Kan. Nichols, with three combat tours of duty, also had plenty of experience flying dangerous missions. Lees wife, Christy, hoped the news would bring a sudden end to the war. 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. 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. Of those 38 lost, 22 were members of Navy SEAL Team 6, the Naval Special Warfare unit responsible for the killing of notorious 9/11 mastermind Osama This was preventable only if they just had not taken off that night, Lee said. 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. 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. He was too busy. Gold Star father Bill Vaughn had a heartfelt message to American "leaders" while discussing a documentary that investigates the Extortion 17 helicopter crash in Afghanistan. Or when something went terribly wrong. The Tangi Valley is a strategic terrain that connects the two primary highways that lead to Kabul. 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. He was assigned to the 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (General Support Aviation Battalion), New Century, Kansas, Tech. [43][44], American rules of engagement were tightened by Gen. Stanley McChrystal in 2009 in order to improve American counterinsurgency strategy. An Afghan official, speaking anonymously a few days after the attack, speculated that the Taliban had laid a trap, that they had purposely put out false information about a meeting involving the Taliban commander. LZ is ice, transmitted one of the Rangers on the ground, indicating the landing zone was free of enemy activity. 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 . 1h 33m "A U.S. Army helicopter carrying 30 Americans, most members of the elite Navy SEAL Team 6 is shot down in Afghanistan. No one is planting victory gardens, and were not rationing. 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. The tempo of the missions did not decrease. [9][11], Meanwhile, the group of Taliban fighters split in two. The team boarded Extortion 17 with Dave Carter and Bryan Nichols at the controls. 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. 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 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. [7][20][21], Fifteen of the Navy SEALs that were killed were members of the Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU),[5][22][20] while the other two Navy SEALs were from an unidentified West Coast-based unit. 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 . At 2:36 a.m., Extortion 17 requested an infrared spotlight, visible only through night vision goggles, to illuminate the landing zone. On such missions, the Chinook pilots nearly always fly at night, wearing night vision goggles, or NVGs. Rest in peace, gentlemen; you will not be forgotten. However, the Afghan government forces did not occupy the base, which was seized by the Taliban shortly after the departure of American forces. The resulting explosion destroyed the aft rotor assembly. Extortion 17 sped alone toward the landing zone. On his right wrist, he wears a bracelet with the names of the five crew members of Extortion 17. You never want to use the same landing zone twice, Darack said. The mission had begun about four hours prior to the shootdown, when the two helicopters touched down side by side in Juy Zarin, a village in the bare rock-walled Tangi Valley of Wardak Province. The crash occurred in Tangi Joi Zareen, in the district of Sayd Abad in Wardak Province after it was struck by an. American intelligence officials identified this individual as "OBJECTIVE GINOSA." A body went into the ocean, but Ill bet it wasnt Bin Ladens. 2023 Smithsonian Magazine [1][5][6][7][8] At 30 American military personnel killed, the shootdown of Extortion 17 represents the greatest single-incident loss of American lives in Operation Enduring Freedom Afghanistan, surpassing the 16 lost in the downing of Turbine 33, a 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) MH-47 helicopter, during Operation Red Wings on 28 June 2005.[2]. Ed Darack March 2015 The Chinook's cargo capacity, speed,. 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. In that incident, sixteen Navy SEALs and Army special operations troops were killed, and three more SEALs were killed in subsequent fighting on the ground. Andrew W. Harvell, 26, of Long Beach, California, Tech. Extortion 17 is a name etched in our minds as one of the worst losses our military has ever experienced. 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. 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 . So where did it go?? 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. His account of the brave pilots, crew, and passengers of Extortion 17 and . 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, one Afghan interpreter, and a U.S. military working dog. Lee, now a captain, was placed in command of a Chinook helicopter unit at Forward Operating Base Shank. Planners then chose a new landing zone for the IRF, but it was large enough to accommodate only one Chinook. He was probably in the top 1 percent of Army aviators, Lee said. The crash is referred to as Extortion 17 by the callsign of the CH-47 Chinook helicopter involved in the crash. The landing zone had been examined for a previous mission but had not yet been used. The shoot-down of 'Extortion 17' constitutes the greatest loss of American life from a single battle in the history of the Afghanistan War. Patrick D. Hamburger, 30, of Lincoln, Neb. August 6, 2017 marks six years since 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. His account of the brave pilots, crew, and passengers of Extortion 17 . Extortion 17 could be a bigger scandal and betrayal of Americans than Benghazi. Spec Ops Magazine 2023 All Rights Reserved. Winds whipped through the fir trees. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Geneva G. Brier/Released) The RPG that struck Extortion 17 threw the helicopter into an uncontrollable spin. Aired: 08/01/21 Rating: NR Extortion 17 and 16 werent MH-47s and their crews were not Night Stalkers. [33], The New York Post reported that the Pentagon released 30 names from the crash. August 6, 2022 marks 11 years since Extortion 17. Thirty-eight boarded Extortion 17 Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopter pilots from the 159th General Support Aviation Battalion. 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. [11] Seventeen U.S. Navy SEALs remained in reserve at the forward operating base. Sgt. 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. 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. 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. The vast majority miss. But Tahir and a group of his fighters escaped. Seven Afghan National Army commandos and one Afghan civilian interpreter were also killed in the crash. The helicopter, call sign Extortion 17, was on a mission to reinforce American and coalition special operations troops. Troops in Afghanistan Defense Department officials and military leaders testified at a hearing on the investigation of the August 20111 death of 30 U.S. servicemen in. In order to prevent this, American forces called in for support. 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. At the flight controls were David R. Carter of the Colorado Army National Guard and copilot Bryan J. Nichols, a Kansas-based Army reservist. Campbell was one of 30. All three airmen were assigned to the 24th Special Tactics Squadron, Pope Field, North Carolina.

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