The Taliban, of course, has taken credit, saying it shot down the helo during a special forces raid on a home. 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 . They heard a helicopter coming, they grabbed their RPGs, and they fired in quick succession, Darack said. . Information about the incident is still trickling in, but these are a few of the most important questions in the immediate aftermath. SEAL TEAM SIX - EXTORTION 17 COVER UP - YouTube Seals from team that killed Bin Laden in helicopter crash The next night, the pair had orders to drop off more troops in the same spot. 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. On a moonless night, an Army Chinook helicopter swept low over the Tangi Valley, a strip of forbidding terrain in eastern Afghanistan teeming with Taliban and located just 35 miles south of the capital, Kabul. Special forces are very selective on who they partner with, but any collaboration with Afghans opens up U.S. I didnt want to die., He remembered the words of his old flight instructor: Never stop flying the aircraft.. During the last several years it is evident that our government has spent a lot of time and resources covering up the truth on many things from both our allies and the American public, Mr. To minimize the danger as much as possible, pilots will land Chinooks out of range of any weapons they know they enemy to have, and an Apache or a UAV will fly overhead to check for threats before the Chinooks drop off any soldiers. Families of Navy SEALs killed in 2011 attack say government is to blame 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. On his first deployment, he felt fortunate to be surrounded by veteran pilots he could learn from. Landing in deserts or mountainsides, the helicopter rotors kick up clouds of sand and dust, causing brownouts that can blind a pilot. The military's public contradictions raise more questions than answers. Things like Benghazi and the NSA. It had been loaded well within its limits. Strange also blamed top military brass for sending the troops into a situation they were allegedly ill-equipped and unprepared to handle. Around 2:40 a.m., an Apache pilot flying in support came on the radio and shouted: Fallen Angel. There are no survivors. Stay informed daily on the latest news and advice on COVID-19 from the editors at U.S. News & World Report. Navy SEALs from unit that killed bin Laden among those lost in Joining the 15members of SEAL Team 6, two pilots and three-man crew inside Extortion 17: ten other Navy and Air Force personnel, eight Afghansand a combat assault dog named Bart. The conspiracy has a number of moving parts, all of which have surfaced before, but none of which have any truth to them. U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity because families of those killed are still being notified. But why? Hamburger added. 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 why? 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. 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. But special forces don't get such a cushion: Because they can react more quickly, they undertake more dangerous missions; their risk tolerance is much, much higher. Extortion 17, however, would never reach that landing zone. Two investigations of the incident proved inconclusive. Men he knew. Theyre going after [enemy fighters] in very hostile environments, who know the terrain very well, who know the battlescape very well, Darack said. Retired Army Lt. Gen. William Boykin, who served as deputy undersecretary of defense for Intelligence and was a commander in the Army's super-secret "Delta Force," denounced politicized rules of engagement as a "deliberate plot" within the American armed forces that he says puts political correctness above the safety of the troops. As they started their descent, Lee heard a loud popping noise. A native of Pittsburgh, Pa., he remains obsessively curious about Texans and the Lone Star State culture. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver. On this night, Aug. 6, 2011, something went terribly wrong. Fallen Angel: Call Sign - Extortion 17 (2021) - IMDb The family members, speaking at the National Press Club, tried to reopen the book on the crash, in which 30 Americans were killed, most of them belonging to the same unit as those who carried out the raid on Usama bin Laden earlier that year. But one thing that doesnt fade is never forgetting what they did.. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! And to this day, people are still debating what really happened. It wasnt preventable. They were part of his command. 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. It was the largest single loss of life for Seal Team 6, also known as the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, (DEVGRU) in the unit's history. Were handing rifles to 20-year-olds and asking them to shoot people. Donald Trump Retweeted A Conspiracy Theory that Biden Had Seal Team 6 I am afraid that with this FOIA case that the government is purposely delaying turning over documents because they need the time to redact and to delete things they do not want the American public to become aware of.. 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." I would say that was the first time that we really had eyes on the LZ.. A volley of three rockets total sped toward the general direction of the approaching Chinook, all launched within a few seconds of each other. The chopper's manifest. 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. President Trump has been known, over the years, to tweet some bizarre things. The missions commanders decided to insert another team to go after Tahir while the Rangers held the compound. 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. EXTORTION 17 COVER-UP OF SEAL TEAM SIX SHOOT-DOWN | BWCentral Neither did the risk he and his pilots faced every night. By clicking submit, you are agreeing to our Terms and Conditions & Privacy Policy. Aaron Vaughn's mother, Karen, also demanded an explanation for why her son and his team were not using a special operations aircraft, such as the Chinooks flown by special operations pilots, which have specialized defenses designed to fly commandos deep behind enemy lines. With David Boreanaz, Max Thieriot, Jessica Par, Neil Brown Jr.. Their target was a Taliban commander responsible for ambushes and other attacks against U.S. and Afghan forces. It is not uncommon for commandos to fly some of their missions aboard such aircraft in the war zone, however. There is still a tremendous level of chance for a tragedy of such huge magnitude.. Hamburger said. Trump, who is running for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, announced a slate of futuristic new policies in a campaign video Friday. Military Faces Challenge In Rebuilding SEAL Team 6 - NPR.org List of operations conducted by SEAL Team Six - Wikipedia Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Asked for comment, Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. James Gregory said: "We share in the grief of all of the families who lost their loved ones. It was a hard landing, but it would have been worse if they had landed tail first. The team boarded Extortion 17 with Dave Carter and Bryan Nichols at the controls. 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. ", Ed Darack's The Final Mission of Extortion 17, published by Smithsonian Books, will be available on September 19. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. After the crash, the forces that were involved in the firefight "broke contact" with the enemy so they could go provide perimeter security for the crash site, the official said. Lees wife, Christy, hoped the news would bring a sudden end to the war. In addition to the 30 Americans, the official said there were seven Afghan army soldiers and an interpreter on the helicopter. Aerial view of Osama bin Laden's compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad, made by the CIA. 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. Navy SEAL Who Killed Bin Laden Tears Into Conspiracy Trump Boosted You also want to come in from a different direction for the element of surprise.. On April 29, 2011, President Barack Obama authorized a small special operations team, known as SEAL Team Six, to carry out a raid on the compound. Several Afghans were on board and were killed, but trust is in short supply in Afghanistan. No one saw two Taliban armed with grenade launchers standing on a mud-brick turret well within range of the descending chopper. Due to the sheer magnitude of loss of life, combined with recent news of SEAL Team Six's successful raid on Osama bin Laden's compound, global media outlets lionized the tragedy. 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. 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. By the time the third sped away from its launcher, however, no target remained. 30 Americans Killed Including 22 SEALs When Afghan - ABC News About a dozen of the 33 troops in the back of the helicopter suffered broken bones, heavy bruises and scrapes. Nearby, there were two enemy fighters with rocket-propelled grenade launchers. JSOC ground forces and those who flew them knew and trusted each other. The U.S. military claimed that the Chinook was blown to pieces by a shoulder-fired missile, in which everyone on board was burned beyond recognition. President Trump has been known, over the years, to tweet some bizarre things. Lee earned his wings at Fort Rucker, Ala., then deployed to Pakistan, where he did humanitarian missions, learning to fly into and out of mountainous terrain. Not all will end as well as bin Laden's takedown, as PM noted in July. Located in a remote and dangerous province in eastern Afghanistan, the base was the target of near-constant rocket attacks from Taliban insurgents. Since filing a lawsuit, Mr. Klayman says, he has been stonewalled by the Justice Department, the Defense Department, the CIA and the National Security Agency. "SEAL Team" The Graveyard of Empires (TV Episode 2018) - IMDb Call Sign Extortion 17 - Wikipedia Obama stonewalls SEAL Team 6 Extortion 17 helicopter crash probe 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. 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 officials told her operating outside of these rules "damages our efforts to win the hearts and minds of our enemies. All Rights Reserved. A Marine speaks into a radio and troops unload a CH-47D Chinook in Afghanistan's Kunar Province. The ensuing crash killed all 16 on board, eight Army special operations aviators, and eight Navy SEALs. On such missions, the Chinook pilots nearly always fly at night, wearing night vision goggles, or NVGs. Although the Taliban have claimed to have shot the helicopter down, U.S. officials have only identified the attackers as insurgents. The mission itself has proven controversial to some family members. Petty Officer 1st Class Aaron Vaughn was one of the SEAL Team 6 operators who died in the crash. Strange. Coincidence or not, any Chinook shoot-down is a coup for the Taliban. 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. 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. A Defense Department special operations official told a House subcommittee last year that there is no indication the mission was compromised by the Afghans. For the last two years, hes been an attorney with the law firm Jackson Walker. With Robert O'Neill, Patricia Economo, Enrique Garcia, James Obrien. 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 Taliban shot at the Chinooks all the time with RPGs and rifles, Darack said. 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.. Ultimately, bin Laden was found and killed within nine minutes, and SEAL Team Six was credited with carrying out a nearly flawless mission.