2023 A&E Television Networks, LLC. But why? Up to 30 Dead in Afghanistan Following Failed Prison Heist, Total Iraq and Afghanistan Pricetag: Over $4 Trillion. What the men on the Chinook didn't know was that cloaked by darkness, two fighters had emerged from the small village of Hasan Khel, on the south side of the valley. Some Arab countries and leaders condemned the actions of the United States. In that incident, 16 Navy SEALs and Army special operations troops were killed when their craft was shot down while on a mission to rescue four SEALs under attack by the Taliban. Members of Navy SEAL Team Six formed the core of the IRF, with other American special operations personnel and highly-vetted Afghans playing integral roles. In the rear of the aircraft, the Chinook's passengers stood and prepared to storm out into moonless night once the wheels touched the ground. At this difficult hour, all Americans are united in support of our men and women in uniform who serve so that we can live in freedom and security.". Navy SEALs. 4:05 p.m. - The first helicopter exits the compound. Conspiracy theories started almost immediately. On his first deployment, he felt fortunate to be surrounded by veteran pilots he could learn from. Fallen Angel: Call Sign - Extortion 17: Directed by Karl Horstmann, Stephen Spivey. A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabiullah Mujahid, confirmed that insurgents had been gathering at the compound, adding that eight of them had been killed in the fighting. This time, they might simply have run out of luck and encountered an RPG-armed enemy who was in the right place at the right time. But the CH-47D has neither a flight nor voice recorder, only an engine performance data. It marked the greatest single incident loss of American life in the war in Afghanistan, the deadliest moment in the history of SEAL Team Six and the entirety of the Navy SEALs, and the deadliest single incident in the history of U.S. Special Operations Command. Hamburger added. Their target was a Taliban commander responsible for ambushes and other attacks against U.S. and Afghan forces. Some of the most highly trained and skilled war fighters in history, the Rangers moved overland to a location where intelligence indicated Lefty Grove and his small cadre of fighters would be holding a meeting. A CH-47D Chinook helicopter lands at a small landing zone at Firebase Blessing, in eastern Afghanistans restive Kunar Province at the start of a combat operation. She also said the team was hindered by rules of engagement that prohibited their firing on potential targets unless they could see a weapon. A Defense Department special operations official told a House subcommittee last year that there is no indication the mission was compromised by the Afghans. A CH-47D Chinook helicopter (the same model as Extortion 17) speeds through the Sierra Nevada Mountains at the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center, near Bridgeport, California, during mountain warfare training exercises. "Chance will always play a role in war," stated Justin "Buddy" Lee, the commander of Extortion Company, who had flown with Dave Carter the night before Extortion 17's demise on a similar raid, and who had co-piloted a number of missions with Bryan Nichols. It was an auspicious day for the two enemy fighters. The had Seal team 6 killed is a likely reference to whats known as the Extortion 17 incident, the August 2011 tragedy in which a Chinookmilitary helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan, killing 38 people, 25 of them Navy Seals, in the deadliest day for the U.S. in the entire Afghanistan war. Click here for reprint permission. "He said, 'Mom, there's chatter. 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 Stephen M. Mills, 35, of Fort Worth, was one of the U.S. Navy SEALS killed in the helicopter crash. He was probably in the top 1 percent of Army aviators, Lee said. I would say that on the three-minute call is when Gun 2 started looking at the LZ, giving an LZ brief op. Olson himself a former Team 6 leader recalled at his change of command ceremony the men who lost their lives in Saturday's helicopter crash in Afghanistan. A collection of moments during and after Barack Obama's presidency. 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. Military officers interviewed by investigators said they could not recall an IRF ever being sent for such a mission. On such missions, the Chinook pilots nearly always fly at night, wearing night vision goggles, or NVGs. U.S. officials tell The Associated Press that they believe that . The team began intense training for the operation, which included practicing in a life-sized replica of the compound. AP sources: Crash kills members of SEAL Team 6. The Benghazi attack in 2012 plays a part in some other versions of the tale. David Tarrant. The Rangers were not in need of rescue. During an attempted reinforcement effort during Operation Red Wings on June 28, 2005, high on the slopes of a mountain called Sawtalo Sar in eastern Afghanistan's Kunar Province, a lucky shot took down an Army Special Operations Chinook, call sign "Turbine 33." Led by firebrand Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), Congress is to launch an official investigation into the mysterious helicopter crash that killed several members of the Navy SEAL team 6 in Afghanistan in 2011. The conspiracy has a number of moving parts, all of which have surfaced before, but none of which have any truth to them. This was preventable only if they just had not taken off that night, Lee said. Insurgents shot down a U.S. military helicopter during fighting in eastern Afghanistan, killing 30 Americans, most of them belonging to the same elite unit as the Navy SEALs who killed former Al. As for himself, he speaks out about Extortion 17 because he wants to remember the men on that mission. But why? He would not have hesitated to fly with any of them. The CH-47D that embarked on the mission that day had been built in the 1960s, she said, and last retrofitted in the 1985. Photo: AP, Thousands of passengers are stranded after Colombias Viva Air grounds flights, The last of Mexicos artisanal salt-makers preserve a 2,000-year-old tradition, I cannot give up: Cambodian rapper says he will sing about injustice despite threats from govt, Ukrainian rock star reflects on a year of war in his country, Ukrainian refugees in Poland will now be charged to stay in state-funded housing, This Colombian town is dimming its lights to attract more tourists to view the night sky, Kneel and apologize!: 76 years after island-wide massacre, Taiwan continues to commemorate and debate the tragedy. Lee, now a captain, was placed in command of a Chinook helicopter unit at Forward Operating Base Shank. The conspiracy theories didnt bother Lee at first. This critical, but completely uncontrollable, aspect of war, is well-known among fighters like Buddy. 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.. These helicopters have been well protected from long-range missile attacks for years, but still have few defenses against a simple RPG fired at short range while the Chinook hovers in place. On July 25, a Chinook was hit by a rocket propelled grenade fired by the Taliban. Extortion 17 then plummeted to the ground and erupted in a massive fireball. Doug Hamburger, whose son Patrick was killed, called the incident an ambush that could have been prevented. They are also pretty tough; the only comparable loss to this one was a Chinook shot down in 2005. Darack did extensive research of what happened next. Saturday's deaths bring the total number of coalition troops killed in Afghanistan to 334 this year, according to the Associated Press. In all 38 troops died after the helicopter was shot down by what a review determined to be a Taliban RPG over Wardak Province, Afghanistan, on Aug. 6, 2011. Strange. "We will draw inspiration from their lives, and continue the work of securing our country and standing up for the values that they embodied. 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,. 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. He spoke out against banning girls education. One helicopter crashes, but there are no injuries. [PHOTOS:Fighting in Afghanistan Continues]. All rights reserved. The helicopter was in great operational shape. They then repeated and emphasized a few related questions: How could this happen? The shootdown was the single, deadliest loss of U.S. forces in the war. Chance, however, a component of war intimately understood by war fighters, can never be completely mitigated. Extortion 17: Directed by Franois Garcia. The SEAL Team 6 community was devastated. 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. One of the things I vowed, I will never forget. Are such missiles appearing 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. Copyright 2023 Center for the National Interest All Rights Reserved, the 2011 raid that killed Osama Bin Laden. The tragedy took some of the glow off SEAL Team 6s grand achievement just three months earlier: A team penetrated Pakistan airspace, infiltrated a compound in Abbottabad and killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. 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. The attack on August 6 was the most devastating day in SEAL Team Six history, as well as the single largest loss of life for U.S. forces since the war in Afghanistan began in October. And to this day, people are still debating what really happened. The ensuing crash killed all 16 on board, eight Army special operations aviators, and eight Navy SEALs. because seals have a habit of writing books once they retire. Chinooks are American forces' preferred helicopters in Afghanistan because they are powerful enough fly over mountains while carrying a full complement of troops. 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. WASHINGTON The families of Navy SEAL Team 6 members killed in a disastrous August 2011 helicopter crash in Afghanistan blamed the government for the tragedy, during an emotional press conference in Washington Thursday. Stay informed daily on the latest news and advice on COVID-19 from the editors at U.S. News & World Report. "It's something that a lot of people who have never been in combat have a hard time understanding," he said. Lee had just flown the night before on a similar mission with one of the pilots, David Carter. The military's public contradictions raise more questions than answers. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, The Chinook had no Apache escort, as did the Ranger team that enjoyed the element of surprise when it touched down hours earlier. At that time, this marked deadliest moment in the war in Afghanistan. But we are still sending people to another country to fight, and we need to understand why were doing that, he said. All of us know that going into it.". The Taliban shot at the Chinooks all the time with RPGs and rifles, Darack said. 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. These materials provided much-needed intelligence about bin Ladens role within al-Qaeda and the organizations inner-workings. The story itself is tragic, but tons of war propaganda. Caring is more than just slapping a bumper sticker on your car, he said. Guys on the bush line. 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. Aug. 7, 2011 -- American communities are mourning the loss of 30 U.S. troops who were killed when Afghan insurgents shot down a helicopter carrying the most elite forces in the US military -- Navy . One by one, fathers and mothers of the victims of the crash spoke about what they see as gaping holes or inconsistencies in the review of what U.S. Special Operations considers its most deadly incident. U.S. Central Commands official investigation concluded that a rocket-launched grenade from a Taliban fighter standing near the landing zone clipped a rotary wing, sending the Ch-47 Chinook into a violent downward spin. 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. The team was responding to an Army Ranger unit that was engaged in a firefight with the Taliban and needed backup. By The Newsroom 6th Aug 2011, 6:30pm Located in a remote and dangerous province in eastern Afghanistan, the base was the target of near-constant rocket attacks from Taliban insurgents. 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 June, the U.S. military launched Operation Hammer Down to drive out insurgents entrenched in remote strongholds of eastern Afghanistan. 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. 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. As they made their approach, there was a line of thunderstorms nearby. It just wasnt.. But at least you should care about them and appreciate what were asking of them.. KABUL, Afghanistan -- A helicopter crash in Afghanistan's eastern Wardak province has killed 30 U.S. special operation troops and seven Afghan soldiers, the country's president said on. The families accept the fact that a single shot brought down the helicopter. The extreme G-forces killed everyone on board within a fraction of a second, Darack said. For many families of 9/11 victims, bin Ladens death symbolized justice and retribution. Planners selected a landing zone that had never been used before. SEAL Team Six was assigned three pre-invasion missions: two clandestine political missions relating to regime change on the island, and reconnaissance from the sea of the new airfield under construction on the island's southwest coast. I find it quite disturbing that the government is not willing to give us the answers we deserve. Following a helicopter crash, the SEAL Team must proceed with the mission as hostiles bear down on them and an injured and impaired Jason goes after their target alone. 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. An initial investigation indicates the helicopter was shot down by insurgents in the volatile Tangi valley of Wardak province, several hours south of Kabul. 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. Seven Afghan commandos were also reportedly killed. Some of those Seals were members of Seal Team 6 that took part in the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden, the AP reported today; although they were not actual participants in the Pakistan raid, according to the New York Times. The hearing as it took place was meant to honor the heroes of Extortion 17 instead of to answer our questions, Mr. 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. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. or redistributed. 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. It wasnt preventable. The Chinook was descending on a noisy battlefield where Apache helicopters and a C-130 gunship had been buzzing overhead for three hours, alerting Taliban fighters. . The front rotor shattered, and the back pylon sheared off. "Their deaths are a reminder of the extraordinary sacrifices made by the men and women of our military and their families, including all who have served in Afghanistan,'' President Obama said Saturday. In the immediate wake of the tragedy, the military initiated two investigations. Strange also blamed top military brass for sending the troops into a situation they were allegedly ill-equipped and unprepared to handle. Hes also sent more than his fair share of curious retweets, often of the accounts of conspiracy theorists and those associated with QAnon and other outlandish conspiracy frameworks. Lee remained in Afghanistan flying combat missions for another eight months before returning home in the spring of 2012. They were part of his command. He has written about soldiers returning home from war and the mental health crisis facing young people. The parents of three SEALs. But why? 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. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. On this night, Aug. 6, 2011, something went terribly wrong. I would say that was the first time that we really had eyes on the LZ.. This misinformation persists in part because those unfamiliar with the battlefield aren't taking into account a fundamental part of war: chance. SEAL TEAM SIX - Extortion 17 EXPOSED theunitedwest 15.8K subscribers Subscribe 4.7K 394K views Streamed 9 years ago AUGUST 6, 2015 - Today, on the fourth anniversary of the shoot down of. We were told at that time we were the first unit to make it through a rotation without having anyone killed.. Related: Marcus Luttrell's savior claim's 'Lone Survivor' got it wrong. So the whole team went in one Chinook helicopter -- Extortion 17. The families hope to raise awareness of the incident, which they say the government has largely forgotten since the official report was released in October 2011. Per factcheck.org, while Obama and his advisers were deliberating over which mission to authorize for attacking Bin Ladens compound, Biden advised the president to wait for further confirmation that bin Laden was actually in the compound in Pakistan before acting. Biden was not, as implied, altogether opposed to killing Bin Laden. Then they have to stick the landing. The assassination of Osama bin Laden was a significant victory for the U.S. government and the American people at large. By late 2010, analysts were able to link the courier to a large, highly-secured compound in Abbottabad, a town about 35 miles north of Islamabad. In fact, Chinooks are better protected from newer, more sophisticated threats than from older, more crude ones. How SEAL Team 6 . The Obama administration is violating a judges 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 in Afghanistan, a watchdog group is charging. We also mourn the Afghans who died alongside our troops in pursuit of a more peaceful and hopeful future for their country. On board were 22 members of the elite Seal Team Six, two U.S. Air Force Para-rescue men, three Army reserve personnel, a U.S. Air Force Combat Controller, the pilot and co-pilot, a U.S .

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