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 co-pilot, Bryan Nichols, was one of Lee's closest friends in the Chinook company. The hearing as it took place was meant to honor the heroes of Extortion 17 instead of to answer our questions, Mr. While some of those who lost their lives that day were members of Seal Team 6, it was not the same platoon that had carried out the Bin Laden raid, and none of those killed in the crash had been a part of that event. Virginia-based Navy SEALs in a training exercise. 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. And the shooters had no reason to know that Extortion 17 or any other helicopter would be flying through their quiet extremity of the valley. Around 2:40 a.m., an Apache pilot flying in support came on the radio and shouted: Fallen Angel. Mills, a 13-year veteran of the military . And we really feel that this put our guys in an unnecessary risk, Hamburger said. The helicopter was shot down by insurgents. The reality is, every time a helicopter lifts off the ground in a war zone, it might get shot down, Darack said. The immediate reaction force (IRF) was assembled hastily for insertion into Tangi Valley to help Army Rangers capture fleeing Taliban. Get everything off your social media. Neither did the risk he and his pilots faced every night. An initial investigation indicates the helicopter was shot down by insurgents in the volatile Tangi valley of Wardak province, several hours south of Kabul. Still, SEAL Team Sixs bold raid to take down bin Laden was an extraordinary operation that most experts regard as a resounding success. 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.. I will never forget what they did, he said. The last worst one-day U.S. casuality record in Afghanistan was on June 28, 2005 when 16 U.S. soldiers were killed in Kunar province after a helicopter was shot down by Taliban insurgents. ", 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.". We were told at that time we were the first unit to make it through a rotation without having anyone killed.. When they arrived at the compound, however, the strike force couldn't locate Tahir, and some of his fighters dispersed. Mr. Klayman said the NSA has agreed to provide some information. All Rights Reserved. It was a good crew, it really was. They have to slow down to land or allow troops to rappel to the ground. The helicopter plunged tail first. 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. 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. The military's public contradictions raise more questions than answers. But one thing that doesnt fade is never forgetting what they did.. This was preventable only if they just had not taken off that night, Lee said. The families of these deceased heroes have been stonewalled by the Obama Department of Defense and the Obama National Security Agency in disrespect over their sons unexplained tragic deaths. 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. Soon after US Navy Cryptologist Michael Strange and the elite SEAL Team 6 capture and kill Bin Laden, they are deployed to Afghanistan, where their Chinook is shot down. As more responsibilities fall on the shoulders of special forces, the risk of more losses like this one will continue to increase. 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. Lee heard the call, and he knew what it meant. 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. 2011 Afghanistan Boeing Chinook shootdown - Wikipedia Navy SEAL responds to Trump: I killed the real Bin Laden, not a body 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. For many families of 9/11 victims, bin Ladens death symbolized justice and retribution. AP sources: Crash kills members of SEAL Team 6 "Fallen Angel" - What really happened to Extortion 17? New film probes Then they have to stick the landing. The front rotor shattered, and the back pylon sheared off. Located in a remote and dangerous province in eastern Afghanistan, the base was the target of near-constant rocket attacks from Taliban insurgents. 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." EXPLOSIVE: CIA Whistleblower Exposes Bidens Alleged Role With the Deaths of Seal Team- Claims to have Documented Proof. One helicopter crashes, but there are no injuries. 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. ", Tags: Navy SEALs, Navy, Afghanistan, Allen West, Michele Bachmann. It just wasnt.. Rowan Scarborough can be reached at rscarborough@washingtontimes.com. NATO Crash: Communities Mourn Loss of Troops Killed in Afghanistan AP sources: Crash kills members of SEAL Team 6. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. The parents of three SEALs. He has written about soldiers returning home from war and the mental health crisis facing young people. The tempo of the missions did not decrease. In addition to the 30 Americans, the official said there were seven Afghan army soldiers and an interpreter on the helicopter. The Associated Press contributed to this report. 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. Aerial view of Osama bin Laden's compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad, made by the CIA. Navy SEAL Who Killed Bin Laden Tears Into Conspiracy Trump Boosted It's true that members of SEAL Team 6 died tragically in a helicopter crash not long after the Bin Laden mission, but the particular soldiers who perished weren't part of that operation, says O'Neill. Legal Statement. The second shot hit the rear tail rotor assembly. Originally published August 6, 2011 at 10:50 am Updated August 6, 2011 at 3:16 pm. Fallen Angel: Call Sign - Extortion 17: Directed by Karl Horstmann, Stephen Spivey. Your life is in danger. The actual mission, dubbed Operation Neptune Spear, officially started in the early-morning hours of May 2, Pakistan time (afternoon of May 1, Eastern Daylight Time). Winds whipped through the fir trees. Navy's SEAL Team 6 Recovered 2 Bodies From Afghanistan Crash 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. President Obama offered his thoughts and prayers to those killed in the crash. "Sometimes the enemy just gets that terribly lucky shot. 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 force included seven Afghan soldiers and an Afghan interpreter. Almost 10 years after 9/11, here's what led to the death of Osama bin Laden. Navy SEALs. But what if it was a more advanced missile? because seals have a habit of writing books once they retire. The RPG that struck Extortion 17 threw the helicopter into an uncontrollable spin. Whether enemy fire brought down the Chinook or a tree strike would never be known for sure. Theyre going after [enemy fighters] in very hostile environments, who know the terrain very well, who know the battlescape very well, Darack said. I didnt want to die., He remembered the words of his old flight instructor: Never stop flying the aircraft.. As they started their descent, Lee heard a loud popping noise. Not all U.S. presidents are missed once they leave the White House. The night her son Aaron died, he was in a helicopter that was built in the 1960s and last retrofitted in 1985. 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. 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. No one saw two Taliban armed with grenade launchers standing on a mud-brick turret well within range of the descending chopper. Ultimately, bin Laden was found and killed within nine minutes, and SEAL Team Six was credited with carrying out a nearly flawless mission. Special forces are very selective on who they partner with, but any collaboration with Afghans opens up U.S. 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. "President Karzai expressed his deep condolences because of this incident and expressed his sympathy to Barack Obama.". 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. SEAL TEAM SIX - Extortion 17 EXPOSED - YouTube So the whole team went in one Chinook helicopter -- Extortion 17. We had guys who had flown in Desert Storm, guys who had just come off active duty, Lee said. Osama bin Ladens personal journal was also recovered. 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. Extortion 17 - IMDb Where was the Chinook's black box cockpit recorder? Joe Pappalardo is a contributing writer at Popular Mechanics and author of the new book, Spaceport Earth: The Reinvention of Spaceflight. Gear-obsessed editors choose every product we review. Our families are in danger,' " Vaughn recalled. 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. 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. Not all will end as well as bin Laden's takedown, as PM noted in July. I find it quite disturbing that the government is not willing to give us the answers we deserve. The Chinook is often used to assist in disaster relief, delivering food and water after earthquakes and floods. File: A US Army CH-47D Chinook helicopter in flight. And needless to say, it was the real Bin Laden who was killed, not an incredible facsimile. Copyright 2023 Center for the National Interest All Rights Reserved, the 2011 raid that killed Osama Bin Laden. 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 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. Planners selected a landing zone that had never been used before. The Graveyard of Empires: Directed by David Boreanaz. Chance, however, a component of war intimately understood by war fighters, can never be completely mitigated. International reactions to bin Ladens death ranged from favorable to mixed. 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. After the helicopter crash on August 6, 2011. "We simply didn't know those guys with those RPGs were there," he said. The missions commanders decided to insert another team to go after Tahir while the Rangers held the compound. 20+ Members Of SEAL Team Six Killed In Afghanistan Helicopter Crash 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. As they made their approach, there was a line of thunderstorms nearby. Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft that supported the raid, including a Predator drone, and a variety of highly specialized spy planes, had kept continuous watch over the region during the operation. See production, box office & company info, Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words. 30 Americans Killed Including 22 SEALs When Afghan - ABC News While the press conference was long on speculation and short on concrete evidence, the family members and their supporters didn't pull any punches. There was a lot of experience in that cockpit, the flight engineers and the door gunners. But the Team Six connection makes it a major symbolic victory for them. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. More than 20 Navy Seals died in the helicopter crash that killed 31 in Afghanistan yesterday. Some Arab countries and leaders condemned the actions of the United States. All of us know that going into it.". .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. The conspiracy theories didnt bother Lee at first. It was the worst day for fatalities in the history of naval special warfare. They fail to mention it was Saudis who orchestrated 9/11, yet he elected to go after Iraq and Afghanistan. All but two of the SEALs were from SEAL Team 6, the unit that killed Osama bin Laden, although military officials said none of the crash victims was on that mission in Pakistan against the al . My life is in danger. Somebody was leaking to the Taliban, said Mr. 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. 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 . He was too busy. The helicopter was shot down by insurgents in August 2011; many of those killed were part of the same Navy SEAL Team 6 unit that carried out the raid on Usama bin Laden's compound three months . Click here for reprint permission. For Lee, there was no time to reflect on how close he had come to dying. Are such missiles appearing in Afghanistan? It had been loaded well within its limits. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. 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. But it's often foreign to those who observe combat from afar. Stay informed daily on the latest news and advice on COVID-19 from the editors at U.S. News & World Report. Nobody tipped off the fightersnor could anyone have alerted them. 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. Helicopter raids are dangerous and unpredictable. As for himself, he speaks out about Extortion 17 because he wants to remember the men on that mission. or redistributed. The quick reaction force included SEAL Team 6 and other special operations personnel. Lee and his friend Bryan Nichols flew their Chinook into battle several timesthe first night, dropping off troops at a landing zone (LZ) almost 10,000 feet above sea level. In all, 38 people died that night after the chopper was shot down by a Taliban-owned rocket-propelled grenade or RPG over the Wardak Province on Aug. 6, 2011. "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," Obama said in a statement. 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. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Enterprise writer at The Dallas Morning News. They happened to be in the right place at the right time. It means being informed. One of the other things that we did talk about kind of what youre hitting on, sir, is about the fact that, you know, for three hours we had been burning holes in the sky, the officer told investigators. 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. Forces to the threat of spying. You also want to come in from a different direction for the element of surprise.. They heard a helicopter coming, they grabbed their RPGs, and they fired in quick succession, Darack said. The families accept the fact that a single shot brought down the helicopter. 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. 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. At any moment, they could come under rocket attack. they won't view it as wrong, just a "necessary" sacrifice for your country. Somebody tipped them off. But we are still sending people to another country to fight, and we need to understand why were doing that, he said. What in the world was that Navy Seals conspiracy that Trump retweeted? 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 President Trump has also claimed, including in the first presidential debate, that Biden opposed the raid that took out Bin Laden. 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. 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. When the shock subsided, questions arose and persisted. Were asking people to do incredible things.