The CH-47 "Chinook" was carrying some of this nation's bravest and most capable military . Qari Tahir, the man our forces were attempting to capture or kill on August 5, 2011, isone of many Taliban leaders who dedicate their lives to a corrupt agenda that seeks to eliminate freedom, equality, and prosperity in exchange for a medieval society built on violent extremism and wanton destruction. 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. Lee, now a captain, was placed in command of a Chinook helicopter unit at Forward Operating Base Shank. On board the Chinook CH-47D were 15 members of SEAL Team Six, 15 SEAL Team Six Support personnel, 1 Bomb Dog, 7 . Six weeks later, at around 10:40 p.m., an assault team of Army Rangers and Afghan special operations forces were dropped into an LZ on a mission to capture or kill a Taliban commander named Qari Tahir, who had been responsible for a series of attacks and ambushes in the Tangi Valley, not far from Shank. In the afternoon of 6 August, a flash flood swept through the area, washing away parts of the wreckage. Available for both RF and RM licensing. 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 downing of Extortion 17 was a catastrophic and unprecedented tragedy for our nation," Reid testified. But at least you should care about them and appreciate what were asking of them.. 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. (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 co-pilot, Bryan Nichols, was one of Lees closest friends in the Chinook company. (Smithsonian Books, September 2017). The Chinook smashed into the ground, the force ripping off his goggles. In combat, its mission is to transport large teams of elite assault troops, including Army Rangers and Navy SEALs, to and from the battlefield. NFTs Simplified > Uncategorized > extortion 17 crash photos. He pushed hard on the cyclic stick to tilt the helicopter forward. In March 2002, two MH-47s were downed by machine gun and rocket-propelled grenade fire while close to ground level. As they made their approach, there was a line of thunderstorms nearby. The crew of Slasher 02, the AC-130 circling above, flipped the switch on their powerful light. A body went into the ocean, but Ill bet it wasnt Bin Ladens. [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. It requires the highest level of skills from the pilots because they are some of the most dangerous operations.. The military has worked diligently to more tightly integrate gunship escorts with transport craft, according to Brady. Night Stalker pilots and crew rigorously train for nighttime raids, like the one in Juy Zarin. 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. 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. 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. His father Billy Vaughn recounted Thursday a phone call from his son following the White House . In March 2009, the U.S. 10th Mountain Division established a base in Tangi Valley after increased Taliban activity in the area. For helicopter crews in Afghanistan, the most dangerous times are landing and taking off. 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. He said: "They wanted to attack our Mujahideen who were in a house, but our Mujahideen resisted and destroyed a helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade. [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. 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. 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. But one thing that doesnt fade is never forgetting what they did.. Landing in deserts or mountainsides, the helicopter rotors kick up clouds of sand and dust, causing brownouts that can blind a pilot. | It means being informed. The following passage, published in The Navy Times, seems to support that assertion. After some time, another group of about 10 Taliban fighters was spotted that we suspected could be Qari Tahir himself fleeing the scene. The duo may also have had no ties to Tahir or any of his suspected fighters, and attacked the helicopter on their own. There remained many mysteries about the Extortion 17 shoot down. [9][11], Meanwhile, the group of Taliban fighters split in two. Find the perfect extortion17 stock photo, image, vector, illustration or 360 image. He taught helicopter pilots how to fly in high altitudes at an aviation training site in Colorado. The helicopter, call sign Extortion 17, was on a mission to reinforce American and coalition special operations troops. 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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. Two investigations of the incident proved inconclusive. Lees wife, Christy, hoped the news would bring a sudden end to the war. And while all military helicopters carry countermeasures for guided missiles, nothing can interdict the dumb luck of an unguided RPG round sailing through the air. Buy images; Sell images; Capable of loitering overhead for hours undetected, small fleets of unmanned craft passed imagery to mission planners before and during the raid at Juy Zarin, allowing them to recognize individual fighters, learn their habits, pinpoint where they slept, and identify the types of weapons they carried. U.S. Navy Seals At 2:38 a.m. on August 6, 2011, a U.S. Army Chinook helicopter, call sign Extortion 17, entered the western opening of Afghanistan's restive Tangi Valley, flying alone. The crash is referred to as Extortion 17 by the callsign of the CH-47 Chinook helicopter involved in the crash. 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. Conspiracy theories started almost immediately. The suspicious August 6th, 2011, CH47-D Chinook helicopter crash in Wardak Province, Afghanistan which claimed the lives of 38 American military personnel. 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. 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. One of the things I vowed, I will never forget. 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. This group grew in number over the course of the night, but American forces were at first too preoccupied to engage. Among the 38 occupants inside the Chinook were some of the most highly trained and battle-seasoned fighters in the U.S. military, including 15 commandos from the Navys SEAL Team 6, the unit that three months earlier had killed Osama bin Laden. On August 6, 2011, a U.S. Boeing CH-47 Chinook military helicopter was shot down while transporting a quick reaction force attempting to reinforce an engaged unit of Army Rangers in Wardak province, west of Kabul, Afghanistan. [11][12], As the Rangers approached the target compound, ISR aircraft observed several people leaving the compound. Immediately after Ryan shared an intimate photo of his own, the cybercriminal demanded $5,000, threatening to make the photo public and send it to Ryan's family and friends. 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. The crash is referred to as Extortion 17 by the callsign of the CH-47 Chinook helicopter involved in the crash. 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. Will this ever be exposed! One rocket struck a rotor blade, causing the aircraft to crash almost instantly. 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. 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. 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 just wasnt.. Campbell was one of 30 Americans killed when a CH-47 Chinook helicopter, with the call sign Extortion 17, crashed in Afghanistan. The mission was flown by conventional pilots flying unmodified CH-47Ds. The article stated that the helicopter crashed after an RPG round impacted the aft rotor assembly. 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. Burn is on, they radioed. On Aug. 6, 2011, on the deadliest day in special operations history, 30 Americans, including 17 Navy SEALs, died when a Chinook helicopter crashed. Every mission is potentially life-threatening. It is considered the worst loss of American lives in a single incident in the Afghanistan campaign, surpassing Operation Red Wings in 2005. Lightboxes. Through the goggles, the landing zone shone brilliantly. Early life Are all DEVGRUs saved in a sperm bank? Why did it happen? American, French and Afghan National Police forces carried out a three-day sweep of the area, and the area was then deemed secure. 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. Its like taking a paper towel roll, cutting it in half and strapping it to your eye, Lee said. Humm, to have all the Seal Team 6 members in one place at one time?? 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. On this night, Aug. 6, 2011, something went terribly wrong. It was a good crew, it really was. Stock photos, 360 images, vectors and videos. Recovery of wreckage from the crash site lasted until 9 August 2011. Having studied and directly observed the counter-insurgency campaign in Afghanistan, Ive watched commanders and individual American troops consistently lean far to the side of restraint to encourage Afghans to side with American interests long after U.S. forces have left. The helicopter crashed less than 5 seconds later, killing all 38 people on board. | READ MORE. The first grenade missed Extortion 17. Where was the Chinook's black box cockpit recorder? The shooters origin remains a mystery. Operating with no lights save for the faint green glow of night vision goggles and cockpit instrument panels, the two helicopters, call signs Extortion 17 (one-seven) and Extortion 16, lifted into the darkness and accelerated toward a destination less than 20 miles west. Play FALLEN ANGEL Call Sign: Extortion 17. 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. We were told at that time we were the first unit to make it through a rotation without having anyone killed.. 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. 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. Justin Buddy Lee will never forget that night six years ago. Senior Chief Robert James Reeves was one of those Americans. 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. Intelligence on August 6th indicated Qari Tahir was in Tangi Valley, just a short helicopter flight from the SEAL base camp. Located in a remote and dangerous province in eastern Afghanistan, the base was the target of near-constant rocket attacks from Taliban insurgents. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 135th Aviation Regiment (General Support Aviation Battalion), Grand Island, Nebraska, Sgt. He was assigned to the 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (General Support Aviation Battalion), New Century, Kansas, Tech. Find the perfect extortion 17 stock photo, image, vector, illustration or 360 image. 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 30 American Servicemen killed in action (KIA) with the downing of Extortion 17. 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. The guy was incredibly skilled.. Some 30 seconds later, one of the AH-64 Apache helicopters in the area reported: Fallen Angel.. While Benghazi resulted in four American deaths, Extortion 17 resulted in 38 deaths, including nearly two dozen Navy SEALs. By 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?? Photo by Sgt. He would eventually do two tours and become commander of a Chinook unit during his second deployment in 2011. Lees second deployment started in May of 2011. Ryan Last. In fact, the conflict was heating up. 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). However, the Afghan government forces did not occupy the base, which was seized by the Taliban shortly after the departure of American forces. [9][11], Almost an hour later (01:50), the aviation brigade commander approved a new landing zone for infiltration of the SEAL team. August 2011 Attack on U.S. May God give them the strength to carry on without them. Pinterest. Petty Officer 1st Class Aaron Vaughn was one of the SEAL Team 6 operators who died in the crash. Its almost always a miss.. On his first deployment, he felt fortunate to be surrounded by veteran pilots he could learn from. And to this day, people are still debating what really happened. 3 U.S. Army Reserve personnel from the 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment. 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 On Aug. 6, 2011, insurgent forces in Afghanistan shot down an American aircraft. 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. Darack did extensive research of what happened next. The Final Flight of Extortion 17 It was the deadliest helicopter crash in the history of U.S. special operations. The sheer amount of experience with our pilots, flight engineers and back-seaters and mechanics offered a wealth of knowledge, he said. The Chinook headed to a different landing zone than the first assault team one in the narrowest part of the Tangi Valley. Sat 6 Aug 2011 19.08 EDT. The worst of the wounded was one of Lees crew members, who suffered what was later diagnosed as a severe traumatic brain injury. 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. During the Ranger insertion earlier that night, the CH-47D had approached from the south; this time, it approached from the northwest.