Extortion 17, Seal Team Six and What Really Happened on the Deadliest He would not have hesitated to fly with any of them. The team began intense training for the operation, which included practicing in a life-sized replica of the compound. He would eventually do two tours and become commander of a Chinook unit during his second deployment in 2011. How SEAL Team Six Took Out Osama bin Laden - HISTORY But we are still sending people to another country to fight, and we need to understand why were doing that, he said. More than 20 Navy Seals died in the helicopter crash that killed 31 in Afghanistan yesterday. A junior, he was ready to fight, but the war would be over, he figured, before he even got out of college. But it's often foreign to those who observe combat from afar. However, it would be a very lucky shot to hit a moving Chinook with an RPG and they typically fly high to avoid such dangers as well as small arms fire. Extortion 17 - IMDb "No amount of training, skill, or technology will ever defeat chance on the battlefield. Aug. 6, 2011— -- A helicopter was shot down today by Afghan insurgents as it was rushing to aid troops in a firefight, killing 30 Americans, including 22 Navy SEALs, most of whom belonged to Team 6, the unit whose members were involved in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, U.S. officials said. One of the things I vowed, I will never forget. 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. This crash is incredibly demoralizing. Its planners and pilots must use whatever intelligence is available (which is usually pretty thin information, and comes from earlier attacks) to plan the flight route. 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. The Taliban silenced him. But why? There were guys in a tower. His unit called itself Extortion Company. One of his Chinooks, flying under the call sign Extortion 17 (one-seven), was tasked with the special operations mission the night of Aug. 6. Petty Officer 1st Class Aaron Vaughn was one of the SEAL Team 6 operators who died in the crash. 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. The story itself is tragic, but tons of war propaganda. ", While not commenting directly on the allegations, he called those who were lost "warriors" who represented "the diversity and talent of America and its military.". By clicking submit, you are agreeing to our Terms and Conditions & Privacy Policy. Market data provided by Factset. Just last week the Afghans arrested an Army officer for aiding Taliban suicide bombers through checkpoints, and doing so under employ by Pakistan. 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. But what if it was a more advanced missile? Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This misinformation persists in part because those unfamiliar with the battlefield aren't taking into account a fundamental part of war: chance. 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 crash killed 38 people, including 15 Navy SEALs. Official Extortion 17 Report States "Our Hands Were Tied From Up Above" The operation to kill the world's most wanted terrorist was the result of years of planning and training. The Chinook helicopter was carrying a quick-reaction force to provide back-up to the troops on the ground in the eastern Afghan province of Wardak, a U.S. official said. The incident comes just months after DevGru's raid that killed Osama bin Laden. The next day, a DNA test confirmed that the body was indeed that of Osama bin Laden. Strange. Planners selected a landing zone that had never been used before. Conspiracy theories over the years have alleged that President Barack Obama and presumably then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and now Joe Biden had somehow been responsible for the attack, supposedly in order to silence the Seals for something having to do with the Bin Laden raid three months earlier. By the time the third sped away from its launcher, however, no target remained. they won't view it as wrong, just a "necessary" sacrifice for your country. A man reads the front page of a newspaper featuring the news that al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was shot dead deep inside Pakistan in a night-time helicopter raid by US covert forces, ending a decade-long manhunt for the mastermind of the September 11 attacks. Copyright 2023 The Washington Times, LLC. It launched in the belly of the aircraft which made a hard landing and only two soldiers were injured in that attack but this time all on board were killed. Does Donald Trump believe that Joe Biden played a part in murdering those Navy Seals? The terrorist leader was not only a major player within al-Qaeda but also a figurehead that attracted supporters and recruits from around the world. 20+ Members Of SEAL Team Six Killed In Afghanistan Helicopter Crash The crash sent shock waves throughout U.S. special operations. All Rights Reserved. Lee, now a captain, was placed in command of a Chinook helicopter unit at Forward Operating Base Shank. It's unclear how far away the helicopter was from the initial firefight when it went down and unclear how the troops in the firefight got to the crash location, the official said. Were very concerned that the administration had disclosed that the Navy SEALs had carried out a successful attack on bin Ladens compound resulting in his death. The families accept the fact that a single shot brought down the helicopter. Saturday's deaths bring the total number of coalition troops killed in Afghanistan to 334 this year, according to the Associated Press. They are also pretty tough; the only comparable loss to this one was a Chinook shot down in 2005. 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. Chance, however, a component of war intimately understood by war fighters, can never be completely mitigated. They dont even produce under their own self-imposed deadline, Mr. Klayman told The Washington Times. Originally published August 6, 2011 at 10:50 am Updated August 6, 2011 at 3:16 pm. Families suspect SEAL Team 6 crash was inside job on worst day in Hours earlier, pilots Carter and Nichols and crewmembers Specialist Spencer Duncan, Sergeant Pat Hamburger, and Sergeant Alex Bennett, along with pilots and crew of a sister Chinook, Extortion 16, inserted a strike force in the central Tangi Valley. Joe Pappalardo is a contributing writer at Popular Mechanics and author of the new book, Spaceport Earth: The Reinvention of Spaceflight. They loaded onto Extortion 17, and then Carter and Nichols lifted the Chinook into the night sky. 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. They then repeated and emphasized a few related questions: How could this happen? Furthermore, according to the lore, due to the alleged Iran angle, the Iran nuclear agreement in 2015 was in fact a payoff to Iran for whatever role they played in the earlier conspiracy. 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. 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. Only the pilots, crew, and special operations ground forces commanders knew about the planned flight path and time. Hamburger added. But Tahir and a group of his fighters escaped. Afghan President Karzai's office released a statement on the incident. 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. Get everything off your social media. Since the agencys main task is to eavesdrop on phone and Internet messages, it may have recorded communications related to the attack. What in the world was that Navy Seals conspiracy that Trump retweeted? The World is a public radio program that crosses borders and time zones to bring home the stories that matter. Navy SEALs. He was too busy. Some congressional lawmakers demonstrated their support for the group, including former Florida Republican Rep. Allan West -- an Iraq war vet -- and Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. "SEAL Team" The Graveyard of Empires (TV Episode 2018) - IMDb Each shouldered a rocket propelled grenade launcher, aimed at the dim silhouette of the approaching helicopter then fired. 30 Americans Killed Including 22 SEALs When Afghan - ABC News 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. The Chinook headed to a different landing zone than the first assault team -- one in the narrowest part of the Tangi Valley. Neither did the risk he and his pilots faced every night. One of the engines flew off, and the other caught fire. Were handing rifles to 20-year-olds and asking them to shoot people. Its like taking a paper towel roll, cutting it in half and strapping it to your eye, Lee said. 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 . Are such missiles appearing in Afghanistan? It's a scary thought. The Taliban, of course, has taken credit, saying it shot down the helo during a special forces raid on a home. As is routine on such missions, two Apache attack helicopters provided extra cover and security for Extortion 17, while circling above was an AC-130 aircraft, a gunship that also provides surveillance. 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. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst. Nobody involved had overlooked even the most minute detail. 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. I will never forget what they did, he said. 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. Navy SEAL Who Killed Bin Laden Tears Into Conspiracy Trump Boosted The extreme G-forces killed everyone on board within a fraction of a second, Darack said. They heard a helicopter coming, they grabbed their RPGs, and they fired in quick succession, Darack said. But one thing that doesnt fade is never forgetting what they did.. A silhouette of a. In 2006, he was called into Afghanistan, where he turned 25. "He said, 'Mom, there's chatter. because seals have a habit of writing books once they retire. Virginia-based Navy SEALs in a training exercise. 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 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 quick reaction force included SEAL Team 6 and other special operations personnel. 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. Military Faces Challenge In Rebuilding SEAL Team 6 - NPR.org Lee heard the call, and he knew what it meant. 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., 3 Questions About the SEAL Team Six Crash, Russian Cargo Plane Explodes During Pressure Test, better protected from newer, more sophisticated threats, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. Justin Buddy Lee will never forget that night six years ago. Extortion 17 then plummeted to the ground and erupted in a massive fireball. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. 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 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. But the Team Six connection makes it a major symbolic victory for them. The Associated Press is reporting that a rocket attack took down the Chinook (probably a MH-47) , quoting an unnamed source in Washington D.C., but this has yet to be confirmed officially. 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. That left it to .css-3wjtm9{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.125rem;text-decoration-color:#1c6a65;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:inherit;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-3wjtm9:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;}Navy SEALs to undertake a dangerous raid in a notorious insurgent area to stem the Taliban's advance. Stay informed daily on the latest news and advice on COVID-19 from the editors at U.S. News & World Report. Fallen Angel: Call Sign - Extortion 17: Directed by Karl Horstmann, Stephen Spivey. Some news stories reported that investigators couldnt find the helicopters black box, referring to the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder. On July 25, a Chinook was hit by a rocket propelled grenade fired by the Taliban. If this [operation] was survivable, that was the right crew to have. Enterprise writer at The Dallas Morning News. Gear-obsessed editors choose every product we review. My life is in danger. The hardest LZ Id ever been into, Lee said. "Fallen Angel" - What really happened to Extortion 17? New film probes The Justice Department said at least 50 documents in the Pentagon have been identified as relevant, but only one has been turned over. Aerial view of Osama bin Laden's compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad, made by the CIA. There are no survivors. Guys on the bush line. A silhouette of a flight engineer manning an M240 machine gun on the ramp of a CH-47D Chinook in eastern Afghanistan. the seal team 6 crash is just tying up loose ends for their crimes. In interviewing Buddy for background research for my book, The Final Mission of Extortion 17, which chronicles the people, events, and circumstances of the downing of Extortion 17, I realized that this tragedy illustrates Buddy's words more convincingly perhaps than any other incident. The conspiracy has a number of moving parts, all of which have surfaced before, but none of which have any truth to them. A number of the DEVGRU SEALs were devastated by this loss . 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. It had been loaded well within its limits. And needless to say, it was the real Bin Laden who was killed, not an incredible facsimile. Theyre going after [enemy fighters] in very hostile environments, who know the terrain very well, who know the battlescape very well, Darack said. The ensuing crash killed all 16 on board, eight Army special operations aviators, and eight Navy SEALs. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. But Chinooks are at their most vulnerable while hovering in place during raids like the one this team is thought to have been conducting. However, a shoot down does not necessarily mean insurgents have changed their tactics or hardware. Sign up to receive the latest updates from U.S News & World Report and our trusted partners and sponsors. Men he knew. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. ", Tags: Navy SEALs, Navy, Afghanistan, Allen West, Michele Bachmann. This critical, but completely uncontrollable, aspect of war, is well-known among fighters like Buddy. "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. Three of the . President Obama offered his thoughts and prayers to those killed in the crash. David Tarrant. 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. The co-pilot, Bryan Nichols, was one of Lee's closest friends in the Chinook company. On such missions, the Chinook pilots nearly always fly at night, wearing night vision goggles, or NVGs. SEAL TEAM SIX - EXTORTION 17 COVER UP - YouTube There was a lot of experience in that cockpit, the flight engineers and the door gunners. At any moment, they could come under rocket attack. No one is planting victory gardens, and were not rationing. The Rangers were not in need of rescue. U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon in February signed an order requiring the Obama administration to release documents on a continual basis through the spring and summer. The missions commanders decided to insert another team to go after Tahir while the Rangers held the compound. As they started their descent, Lee heard a loud popping noise. The Pentagon on Thursday identified the Americans as 17 members of the elite Navy SEALs, five Naval Special Warfare personnel who support the SEALs, three Air Force Special Operations personnel and. And it even led Robert ONeill, the Trump-supporting Navy Seal who claims to have fired the shot that killed Bin Laden, to tweet that the conspiracy theories both about the Bin Laden double and about the Seals from the raid having been killed arent true. They happened to be in the right place at the right time. Families of Navy SEALs killed in 2011 attack say government is to blame On his right wrist, he wears a bracelet with the names of the five crew members of Extortion 17. 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. He probably doesnt. "We've allowed politics to become more important than the lives and safety of those men and women," he says. Three months after bin Ladens death, members of the SEAL Team 6 force -- though apparently not the same ones who carried out the bin Laden raid -- were on board the CH-47 Chinook transport helicopter, along with its Army National Guard aircrew, several support personnel and seven Afghan commandos. List of operations conducted by SEAL Team Six - Wikipedia 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. I would say that was the first time that we really had eyes on the LZ.. The reality is, every time a helicopter lifts off the ground in a war zone, it might get shot down, Darack said. On May 2, 2011, U.S. Special Forces raided an al-Qaeda compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and killed the worlds most wanted terrorist: Osama bin Laden. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content. Add in the fact that more sophisticated foreign intelligence agents are on the ground, with signals intelligence assets and deep pockets, and you have a recipe for a plot. The military's public contradictions raise more questions than answers. Could an enemy have specifically targeted the U.S. special forces team that took down bin Laden? 2011 Afghanistan Boeing Chinook shootdown - Wikipedia But no one died. 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. 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. This was preventable only if they just had not taken off that night, Lee said.