REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst. The military's public contradictions raise more questions than answers. However, the AP has reported, the Afghan forces never staffed the outpost after American forces left, and the Taliban moved back in. No one is planting victory gardens, and were not rationing. Somebody was leaking to the Taliban, said Mr. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? The night her son Aaron died, he was in a helicopter that was built in the 1960s and last retrofitted in 1985. 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. Then they have to stick the landing. 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. The next night, the pair had orders to drop off more troops in the same spot. 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. The force included seven Afghan soldiers and an Afghan interpreter. In all, 17 members of the SEAL Team 6 counterterrorist force were on board the CH-47 Chinook transport helicopter, along with its Army National Guard aircrew, several support personnel and seven Afghan commandos. Is Russias Only Aircraft Carrier Cursed? Extortion 17, however, would never reach that landing zone. 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. 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. "We will draw inspiration from their lives, and continue the work of securing our country and standing up for the values that they embodied.". Saturday's deaths bring the total number of coalition troops killed in Afghanistan to 334 this year, according to the Associated Press. Enterprise writer at The Dallas Morning News. 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. 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. After the helicopter crash on August 6, 2011. The team was responding to an Army Ranger unit that was engaged in a firefight with the Taliban and needed backup. 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. Related: Marcus Luttrell's savior claim's 'Lone Survivor' got it wrong. The mission itself has proven controversial to some family members. 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. The Benghazi attack in 2012 plays a part in some other versions of the tale. The reality is, every time a helicopter lifts off the ground in a war zone, it might get shot down, Darack said. Its lawyers have told the judge that the process of locating relevant documents and removing classified information takes time. But Chinooks are at their most vulnerable while hovering in place during raids like the one this team is thought to have been conducting. All of us know that going into it.". The second probe, led by Army Brigadier General Jeffrey Colt, explained in excruciating detail what all those familiar with military operations and helicopter aviation in Afghanistan already knew: chance and chance alone, took down Extortion 17. It requires the highest level of skills from the pilots because they are some of the most dangerous operations.. 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. The operation to kill the world's most wanted terrorist was the result of years of planning and training. President Trump has been known, over the years, to tweet some bizarre things. The Graveyard of Empires: Directed by David Boreanaz. The landing zone was small, and the commanders didnt want to split up the strike force. The helicopter was in great operational shape. File: A US Army CH-47D Chinook helicopter in flight. So the whole team went in one Chinook helicopter -- Extortion 17. 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. Every mission is potentially life-threatening. Since the agencys main task is to eavesdrop on phone and Internet messages, it may have recorded communications related to the attack. This is all, needless to say, completely unsubstantiated if not outright false. 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. 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's a scary thought. 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. But why? 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. All rights reserved. Osama bin Ladens personal journal was also recovered. I was terrified. This was preventable only if they just had not taken off that night, Lee said. He probably doesnt. The RPG that struck Extortion 17 threw the helicopter into an uncontrollable spin. Lee heard the call, and he knew what it meant. The military's public contradictions raise more questions than answers.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. But it's just as plausible that the Taliban got lucky. Gear-obsessed editors choose every product we review. But at least you should care about them and appreciate what were asking of them.. 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 . President Obama offered his thoughts and prayers to those killed in the crash. Throughout, he said, Justice lawyers have refused to take his phone calls. It was an auspicious day for the two enemy fighters. On the fourth anniversary of the worst one-day loss of military life in the war on terror, families of the dead say they are aghast that the government will not honor basic requests under the Freedom of Information Act. Insurgents in Iraq have used Russian-made SA-7s, shoulder-fired missiles tipped with infrared homing devices, against U.S. and British aircraft. They were sitting there, waiting. 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. Telling stories about ordinary people involved in extraordinary events is his passion. MARTHA RADDATZ, LUIS MARTINEZ and MIKE BOETTCHER, helicopter was shot down today by Afghan insurgents, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. While the press conference was long on speculation and short on concrete evidence, the family members and their supporters didn't pull any punches. Rowan Scarborough can be reached at rscarborough@washingtontimes.com. The ensuing crash killed all 16 on board, eight Army special operations aviators, and eight Navy SEALs. Your life is in danger. 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 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. One helicopter crashes, but there are no injuries. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Special forces are very selective on who they partner with, but any collaboration with Afghans opens up U.S. 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. Market data provided by Factset. 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. The insurgents had no way of knowing the helicopter would be coming in, at the speed it was coming and at the altitude, Darack said. Two investigations of the incident proved inconclusive. .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. 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. Despite the risk, operations like these were taking place with such frequency in Afghanistan they only made news when they produced a spectacular success, like the bin Laden mission. 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. "We have an ideology problem with this war, and we need to address it. When they arrived at the compound, however, the strike force couldn't locate Tahir, and some of his fighters dispersed. 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. The second shot hit the rear tail rotor assembly. For now, let's assume the Chinook was shot down, and by a rocket. Information about the incident is still trickling in, but these are a few of the most important questions in the immediate aftermath. The guy was incredibly skilled.. The Chinook is often used to assist in disaster relief, delivering food and water after earthquakes and floods. Chance, however, a component of war intimately understood by war fighters, can never be completely mitigated. 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. It alleges thatthe 2011 raid that killed Osama Bin Laden, which took place when Biden was vice president, did not actually kill the al-Qaeda leader, but rather a body double, and that Iran had been part of the conspiracy as well. As they made their approach, there was a line of thunderstorms nearby. 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. For Lee, there was no time to reflect on how close he had come to dying. The former vice president has become the Democratic front-runner with primary victories across the country. The worst of the wounded was one of Lees crew members, who suffered what was later diagnosed as a severe traumatic brain injury. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The helicopter was shot down by insurgents. They then repeated and emphasized a few related questions: How could this happen? The assassination of Osama bin Laden was a significant victory for the U.S. government and the American people at large. Lees wife, Christy, hoped the news would bring a sudden end to the war. . "He said, 'Mom, there's chatter. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content. JSOC ground forces and those who flew them knew and trusted each other. Finally Sells Japan Tomahawk Missiles. But why? Many military experts at the time, including some of Obamas top military advisers, had questioned the White Houses public praise of SEAL Team 6 and said it put members in danger. Darack did extensive research of what happened next. On his right wrist, he wears a bracelet with the names of the five crew members of Extortion 17. [PHOTOS:Fighting in Afghanistan Continues]. Although the Taliban have claimed to have shot the helicopter down, U.S. officials have only identified the attackers as insurgents. 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. At that time, this marked deadliest moment in the war in Afghanistan. Military officers interviewed by investigators said they could not recall an IRF ever being sent for such a mission.