Ill try to reply the best I can. It requires the highest level of skills from the pilots because they are some of the most dangerous operations.. Around 02:23, the two helicopters departed the forward base. These are the words of Billy Vaughn. He was too busy. Troops", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2011_Afghanistan_Boeing_Chinook_shootdown&oldid=1142506992, 2 U.S. Navy SEALs from Naval Special Warfare Group 1, 4 U.S. The Afghan soldiers were an essential part of the package; they were trained to move with our forces to the target. In March 2002, two MH-47s were downed by machine gun and rocket-propelled grenade fire while close to ground level. [41] At the subsequent hearing in February 2014, Pentagon representative Garry Reid defended the decision to undertake the mission and denied that the Taliban had any advance knowledge of it. Thirty Americans perished in the blink of an eye, half of which comprised an entire 'troop' from SEAL Team 6's Gold Squadron. I will never forget what they did, he said. Two were still alive." 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. Some news stories reported that investigators couldnt find the helicopters black box, referring to the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder. The crash is referred to as Extortion 17 by the callsign of the CH-47 Chinook helicopter involved in the crash. Buy images; Sell images; The Tangi Valley is a strategic terrain that connects the two primary highways that lead to Kabul. Thirty-eight boarded Extortion 17 Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopter pilots from the 159th General Support Aviation Battalion. That night, nearly 10 years after the U.S. had gone to war in Afghanistan, Lee believed they were the best team for this dangerous mission. Nichols had deployed three times to combat zones, and Carter, with more than 4,000 hours of flight time, was one of the most experienced helicopter pilots in the U.S. military. THIS COMBAT MARINE SALUTES YOU ALL WE ALL GET A NEW STATION WHEN GOD OKS OUR TRANSFER I AM QUITE CERTAIN THAT GOD LOVES WARRIORS A BIT MORE THAN WE MIGHT REALIZE, I always suspected ObamaTard had something to do with this tragedy. Chance is still part of the battlefield, says Brady. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) The downing of a Chinook helicopter gunship (known by its call sign Extortion 17) in Afghanistan on August 6, 2011, has for years been shrouded in mystery, with the . The group fired 2-3 RPG rounds from a two-story building from a location some 220 meters south of the helicopter. The quick reaction force included SEAL Team 6 and other special operations personnel. Will this ever be exposed! They reached the site at 04:12 and found no survivors. [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. 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 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. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 135th Aviation Regiment (General Support Aviation Battalion), Grand Island, Nebraska, Sgt. [9][10], After American intelligence services discovered in 2011 that senior Taliban leader Qari Tahir was possibly in Tangi Valley, Wardak province, Afghanistan, local American forces launched a mission to apprehend or kill him. Humm, to have all the Seal Team 6 members in one place at one time?? 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. Copyright 2023 | National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum, The Museum is a 501(c)(3) organization. [45] McChrystal cited a previous "overreliance on firepower and force protection" and the need to reduce civilian casualties and win the cooperation of the local population. 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. Find the perfect extortion17 stock photo, image, vector, illustration or 360 image. David Tarrant, The Dallas Morning News In fact, the conflict was heating up. After some time, another group of about 10 Taliban fighters was spotted that we suspected could be Qari Tahir himself fleeing the scene. 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. The team boarded Extortion 17 with Dave Carter and Bryan Nichols at the controls. 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. Extortion 17 and its 38 occupants would not return. During the Ranger insertion earlier that night, the CH-47D had approached from the south; this time, it approached from the northwest. Extortion 17 and 16 werent MH-47s and their crews were not Night Stalkers. The crash claimed the lives of 38 personnel, including 22 special operations forces in Afghanistan Aug. 6, 2011. 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. At 2:36 a.m., Extortion 17 requested an infrared spotlight, visible only through night vision goggles, to illuminate the landing zone. The crash is referred to as Extortion 17 by the callsign of the CH-47 Chinook helicopter involved in the crash. [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. Daniel L. Zerbe, 28, of York, Pennsylvania. 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 incident became known as "Extortion 17" after the helicopter . Monday, 06 August 2012, marks one year since the tragic downing of EXTORTION 17 in Tangi, Afghanistan. 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 . Lee is 36 now, a civil attorney in Dallas, a world away from Afghanistan. )/SR-71 blackbird cloud behind the chinook; saying thats safe distance! Touch device users can explore by touch or with swipe . Petty Officer 1st Class Aaron Vaughn was one of the SEAL Team 6 operators who died in the crash. 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 . Flying low, the pilots have to maneuver a machine weighing up to 50,000 pounds over mountains, under cover of darkness, in swirling wind and dust, wearing night vision goggles. Six minutes from their estimated landing time, Extortion 16 broke away from the lead Chinook and orbited at a location close enough to help if needed. 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. Its a math problem. Lee, now a captain, was placed in command of a Chinook helicopter unit at Forward Operating Base Shank. 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. 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. He was assigned to the 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (General Support Aviation Battalion), New Century, Kansas, Tech. Prior to the mission, the deadliest incident was June 2005's Operation . And why was the fire control officer of the AC-130 Gunship flying above denied permission . Where was the Chinook's black box cockpit recorder? On Aug. 6, 2011, insurgent forces in Afghanistan shot down an American aircraft. If this was survivable, that was the right crew to have. Baseless Claim That Biden Ordered 'Extortion 17' Three months after the raid that killed bin Laden, Taliban fighters shot down a Chinook helicopter carrying 30 U.S. service members, including. American intelligence officials identified this individual as "OBJECTIVE GINOSA." Today. Two fired at roughly the same time. The downing of Extortion 17 spurred a number of conspiracy theories, such as the idea that the shootdown was revenge for bin Laden's death. To remove the risk of rocket-propelled grenades downing helicopters in Afghanistan 100 percent, youd have to remove the opposable thumbs of every fighting-age male in the objective area, and thats not how we win a counter-insurgency., Ed Darack Several minutes later, a 20-man Pathfinder team (specializing in downed-aircraft rescue and recovery) arrived at the site. On August 6th, 2011, the helicopter was fired upon and shot down by a previously undetected group of Taliban fighters. The Chinook headed to a different landing zone than the first assault team one in the narrowest part of the Tangi Valley. On such missions, the Chinook pilots nearly always fly at night, wearing night vision goggles, or NVGs. Ranger assault helicopters had already engaged the enemy and killed six of eight Taliban fighters, causing the other two to retreat. While Benghazi resulted in four American deaths, Extortion 17 resulted in 38 deaths, including nearly two dozen Navy SEALs. 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). 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. 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. 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. A body went into the ocean, but Ill bet it wasnt Bin Ladens. 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. But Tahir and a group of his fighters escaped.