Its almost always a miss.. These missiles add ultraviolet tracking to infrared seekers, making them less susceptible to the flares that Chinooks fire to try to throw incoming missiles off course. Doug Hamburger, whose son Patrick was killed, called the incident an ambush that could have been prevented. SEAL TEAM SIX - EXTORTION 17 COVER UP theunitedwest 15.8K subscribers Subscribe 683 53K views Streamed 7 years ago WOW, watch author Don Brown blow the lid off of the official government report. So the whole team went in one Chinook helicopter -- Extortion 17. 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. Over time, certain memories will fade, certain details will fade. On July 25, a Chinook was hit by a rocket propelled grenade fired by the Taliban. The sheer amount of experience with our pilots, flight engineers and back-seaters and mechanics offered a wealth of knowledge, he said. And needless to say, it was the real Bin Laden who was killed, not an incredible facsimile. After Vice President Joe Biden revealed that SEAL Team 6 carried out the operation that killed Osama bin Laden in May 2011, Strange said the members of his son's team gave startling indications to their families they were about to meet their demise. And to this day, people are still debating what really happened. SEAL Team Six Helicopter Crash: Let's Debunk a Myth. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? Honestly, sir, I dont think anybody had really looked at the LZ, said the pilot of Gun 1. Just as ridiculous as saying [President George W.] Bush was responsible for 9/11, Lee said. 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. 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. That means more raids, more targets and more reliance on Afghan competenceall of which add up to more special forces casualties. Obama stonewalls SEAL Team 6 Extortion 17 helicopter crash probe One source says the team was thought to include 22 SEALs, three Air Force air controllers, seven Afghan Army troops, a dog and handler, and a civilian interpreter, plus the helicopter crew. Lee, now a captain, was placed in command of a Chinook helicopter unit at Forward Operating Base Shank. NATO Crash: Communities Mourn Loss of Troops Killed in Afghanistan Stephen M. Mills, 35, of Fort Worth, Tex., was reportedly the leader of the Navy SEAL team killed in the Chinook helicopter attack on Aug. 6. Navy SEALs from unit that killed bin Laden among those lost in He probably doesnt. Darack, a writer and photographer, is the author of four previous books, including Victory Point: Operations Red Wings and Whalersthe Marine Corps' Battle for Freedom in Afghanistan, Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters. If this [operation] was survivable, that was the right crew to have. Originally published August 6, 2011 at 10:50 am Updated August 6, 2011 at 3:16 pm. The families of some of the 17 SEAL Team 6 commandos who were killed in an ambush in Afghanistan during a helicopter flight to help Army Rangers pinned down by Taliban gunmen accused the Obama administration of deliberately endangering their loved ones for political ends. The Taliban, of course, has taken credit, saying it shot down the helo during a special forces raid on a home. The second RPG round had connected with one of Extortion 17's aft rotor blades, severing more than 10 feet of it when it exploded. But no one died. List of operations conducted by SEAL Team Six - Wikipedia Many of these family members are undergoing psychological care over what has become a double tragedy: the deaths of their sons and the cover-up for which these family members feel betrayed by their own government.. He was probably in the top 1 percent of Army aviators, Lee said. The operation to kill the world's most wanted terrorist was the result of years of planning and training. 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 However, a shoot down does not necessarily mean insurgents have changed their tactics or hardware. Planners had created an absolutely sound mission. A typical combat mission in Afghanistan leaves little margin for error, requiring Chinook pilots to land on tiny, makeshift sites on mountain slopes where any tree, bush or rock could be hiding an enemy fighter with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. Nothing tests the capabilities of a young helicopter pilot like flying in the extreme conditions of Afghanistan. No one saw two Taliban armed with grenade launchers standing on a mud-brick turret well within range of the descending chopper. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The hardest LZ Id ever been into, Lee said. The quick reaction force included SEAL Team 6 and other special operations personnel. For now, let's assume the Chinook was shot down, and by a rocket. It was a good crew, it really was. I would say that on the three-minute call is when Gun 2 started looking at the LZ, giving an LZ brief op. The helicopter plunged tail first. Just after entering the Tangi, as Extortion 17 continued to descend and decelerate toward its landing zone, the helicopter passed through the narrowest portion of the valley. A US helicopter crashed in Afghanistan yesterday killing 31 special operation troops, most of them from the elite Navy Seals unit that killed Osama bin Laden. Youve got [Apaches] flying around, so theres a lot of noise going on and, basically, this entire valley knows that theres something happening in this area. Mills, a 13-year veteran of the military . The Taliban silenced him. "We simply didn't know those guys with those RPGs were there," he said. The Chinook headed to a different landing zone than the first assault team -- one in the narrowest part of the Tangi Valley. And Justice unilaterally set a new deadline for the release and then ignored it, Mr. Klayman said. Special Forces are expected to keep the pressure on the Taliban, working closely with Afghan forces to maintain control as U.S and Coalition troops depart. Charles Strange, whose son Michael, 25, died in the attack said Obama personally promised him a thorough investigation of what happened but has failed to deliver. On board were 22 Navy SEALs, rushing to support troops in firefight. But why? Lee heard the call, and he knew what it meant. I mean, at any time if we would have found these squirters, or they would have found weapons, we were the way I was understanding it, we were going to be clear to engage due to the fact that they had weapons, but we had to [positively identify] them first., He added: So we hadnt started looking at the LZ yet, just due to there was so much more of a threat to the east with the squirters. Legal Statement. It has now been four years since Extortion 17 was shot down, said Doug Hamburger, whose Army air crew son, Patrick, was one of the 30 Americans killed. Its crazy how many times I can think of where me or the guys I was with had to do that.. Nigerians await election results in competitive race. More than 20 Navy Seals died in the helicopter crash that killed 31 in Afghanistan yesterday. Theyre going after [enemy fighters] in very hostile environments, who know the terrain very well, who know the battlescape very well, Darack said. The operators from SEAL Team Six were flown by a crew of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, the same regiment that flew the bin Laden raid. The ensuing crash killed all 16 on board, eight Army special operations aviators, and eight Navy SEALs. SEAL TEAM SIX - Extortion 17 EXPOSED - YouTube This incident could be a sign of things to come: The crash happened in Tanji, where the U.S. closed a combat outpost in April. That is why, they say, a fighter just happened to be stationed in a turret within 150 yards of a landing zone that had never been used before. Your life is in danger. Extortion 17, however, would never reach that landing zone. The SEAL Team 6 community was devastated. And we really feel that this put our guys in an unnecessary risk, Hamburger said. The co-pilot, Bryan Nichols, was one of Lee's closest friends in the Chinook company. RETWEET!, The president went on to follow that last command, although the Oscar the Midnight Rider account has since been suspended by Twitter. I had to learn how to land while browned-out, wearing NVGs, on the side of a mountain or an uneven field, Lee said. Somebody was leaking to the Taliban, said Mr. Still, the one the president retweeted earlier this week may have been the weirdest yet. The two Apaches, Gun 1 and Gun 2, on scene were never emphatically told to move near the landing zone to scan for threats. The conspiracy theories didnt bother Lee at first. The Obama administration is violating a judge's order to turn over documents in the Aug. 6, 2011, shootdown of a U.S. helicopter call sign Extortion 17 that killed members of SEAL Team 6 . The navigator on the AC-130 gunship said there was simply too much gun and engine noise to think that the Chinook could make an undetected entrance. The story itself is tragic, but tons of war propaganda. My life is in danger. He grew up in Tyler, went to Texas A&M, joined the Corps of Cadets and stared in shock at the news thattwo planes slammed into the World Trade Center and another into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. Ninty-six days after the death of Osama bin Laden by SEAL Team Six, an old Vietnam era Army Reserve helicopter, call sign "Extortion 17," was shot down in the Wardak Province, Tangi River Valley, Afghanistan on Aug 6, 2011.On board the Chinook CH-47D were 15 members of SEAL Team Six, 15 SEAL Team Six Support personnel, 1 Bomb Dog, 7 unidentified members of the Afghan National Army, and 1 . The Chinook had no Apache escort, as did the Ranger team that enjoyed the element of surprise when it touched down hours earlier. For Lee, there was no time to reflect on how close he had come to dying. Flying 250 feet above the valley floor at just under 70 miles per hour, Dave Carter, the pilot to the right of Nichols, guided the helicopter toward a carefully chosen landing zone just over a mile away. How SEAL Team Six Took Out Osama bin Laden - HISTORY The U.S. Army knows the risks when it plans air assault operations in Afghanistan. The Joint Combat Assessment Team report identified, through detailed metallurgical analysis, the type of projectile that blew Extortion 17 out of the sky: an antipersonnel unguided ballistic rocket propelled grenade. Fallen Angel: Call Sign - Extortion 17: Directed by Karl Horstmann, Stephen Spivey. SEAL TEAM SIX - EXTORTION 17 COVER UP - YouTube But one thing that doesnt fade is never forgetting what they did.. .css-v1xtj3{display:block;font-family:FreightSansW01,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-weight:100;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-v1xtj3:hover{color:link-hover;}}@media(max-width: 48rem){.css-v1xtj3{font-size:1.1387rem;line-height:1.2;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:0.625rem;}}@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-v1xtj3{line-height:1.2;}}@media(min-width: 48rem){.css-v1xtj3{font-size:1.18581rem;line-height:1.2;margin-bottom:0.5rem;margin-top:0rem;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-v1xtj3{font-size:1.23488rem;line-height:1.2;margin-top:0.9375rem;}}Russian Cargo Plane Explodes During Pressure Test, Air Force's IRON Wireless Network Protects Nukes, Watch Opposition Group Land Drone on Russian Jet, Pentagon's Mysterious Aircraft Won't Need a Runway, The Secret War to Take out Iran's F-14 Fighters, Meet the E-7 Wedgetail, the Air Forces New Plane, Report: Pilot Error Ruined a $112 Million F-35 Jet, Air Force Grounds Jets: Their Tails May Fall Off, The Messy Battle to Build the F-35's Next Engine, Russia Dredges Up Ancient BTR-50 Vehicles. Telling stories about ordinary people involved in extraordinary events is his passion. The helicopter was shot down by insurgents. So, to do an infil on the X or Y, you know, having that element of surprise in the beginning of an operation is good, but by the time weve been there for three hours, and the partys up, bringing in another aircraft like that, you know, may not be the most tactically sound decision.. The extreme G-forces killed everyone on board within a fraction of a second, Darack said. Three of the . During the event organized by a group called Freedom Watch, family members and former military personnel claimed President Obama turned the SEALs group into a Taliban target after the administration revealed they had conducted the bin Laden raid. The loss of a Chinook helicopter carrying members of Navy SEAL Team Six made yesterday the deadliest single day in the entire Afghan War for the U.S., The New York Times reports. The first of the unguided projectiles missed, as the vast majority of rocket propelled grenades shot at helicopters did over the course of the war in Afghanistan. SEAL Team 6 and what really happened on America's deadliest day in And you know, never before in the history of our county (had) a sitting president released that type of information to the public, especially when he was talking about special forces. The missions commanders decided to insert another team to go after Tahir while the Rangers held the compound. It was a hard landing, but it would have been worse if they had landed tail first. The families of some of the 17 SEAL Team 6 commandos who were killed in an ambush in Afghanistan during a helicopter flight to help Army Rangers pinned down by Taliban gunmen accused the. It wasnt preventable. Afghan President Karzai's office released a statement on the incident. A silhouette of a. I was terrified. Helicopter Crash in Afghanistan Reportedly Kills Members of SEAL Team 6
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