But we are still sending people to another country to fight, and we need to understand why were doing that, he said. 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. By clicking submit, you are agreeing to our Terms and Conditions & Privacy Policy. EXPLOSIVE: CIA Whistleblower Exposes Bidens Alleged Role With the Deaths of Seal Team- Claims to have Documented Proof. 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. The Costliest Day in SEAL Team Six History - HISTORY The front rotor shattered, and the back pylon sheared off. There was a lot of experience in that cockpit, the flight engineers and the door gunners. An initial investigation indicates the helicopter was shot down by insurgents in the volatile Tangi valley of Wardak province, several hours south of Kabul. August 6, 2011 / 6:08 PM / CBS Boston KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- A military helicopter was shot down in eastern Afghanistan, killing 31 U.S. special operation troops, most of them from the. 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. ", "The hearts and minds of our enemy are more valuable to our government than my son's blood," she said. It was a good crew, it really was. The immediate reaction force (IRF) was assembled hastily for insertion into Tangi Valley to help Army Rangers capture fleeing Taliban. 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. Three of the . By the time the third sped away from its launcher, however, no target remained. 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. Extortion 17, Seal Team Six and What Really Happened on the Deadliest Obama 'Put a Target on Their Backs', SEAL Team 6 Family Members Say The hearing as it took place was meant to honor the heroes of Extortion 17 instead of to answer our questions, Mr. An official investigation found no evidence of a pre-planned ambush, though it did suggest that other helicopter activity in the area could have tipped off Taliban fighters that more helicopters could be approaching, according to the report. An official report was released in October 2011 but family members say it did little to fill in the details and left more questions than answers. 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. 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. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. It was the worst day for fatalities in the history of naval special warfare. Apparently, someone tipped them off that the SEALs were coming; the helicopter was attacked from three sides in a coordinated ambush. The chopper's manifest. As they started their descent, Lee heard a loud popping noise. David Tarrant. The military's public contradictions raise more questions than answers. 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. In addition to the 30 Americans, the official said there were seven Afghan army soldiers and an interpreter on the helicopter. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! ", Ed Darack's The Final Mission of Extortion 17, published by Smithsonian Books, will be available on September 19. House panel probing chopper crash that killed SEAL Team 6 members He grew up in Tyler, went to Texas A&M, joined the Corps of Cadets and stared in shock at the news thattwo planes slammed into the World Trade Center and another into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. The United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DevGru)better known by its former name, Team 6-reportedly suffered the bulk of the casualties. One of the best crews in my company. Were handing rifles to 20-year-olds and asking them to shoot people. 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. the seal team 6 crash is just tying up loose ends for their crimes. Market data provided by Factset. She had just given birth to their first child. The CH-47D that embarked on the mission that day had been built in the 1960s, she said, and last retrofitted in the 1985. "In releasing their identity, they put a target on their backs," said Doug Hamburger, whose son, Army Staff Sgt. Coincidence or not, any Chinook shoot-down is a coup for the Taliban. Michael Savage: SEAL Team 6 was assassinated, executed Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Legal Statement. The U.S. Army knows the risks when it plans air assault operations in Afghanistan. Extortion 17's pilots and crew ranked among the very best military helicopter pilots in the world (Carter had amassed more than 4,000 hours of cockpit time), and the helicopter, a CH-47D, the fastest and one of the most powerful and nimble in the U.S. military, had been maintained to the highest standards. Planners selected a landing zone that had never been used before. 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. 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. JSOC and aviation commanders, prepared for virtually any outcome, quickly formulated a plan: they would send a team on one helicopter to bolster the Ranger-led force. With Robert O'Neill, Patricia Economo, Enrique Garcia, James Obrien. The assassination of Osama bin Laden was a significant victory for the U.S. government and the American people at large. However, a shoot down does not necessarily mean insurgents have changed their tactics or hardware. The compounds unusual and extensive security features, along with further intelligence information, prompted suspicion that the residence was Osama bin Ladens hideout. The police chief of Wardak said the attack occurred around 1 a.m. Saturday after an assault on a Taliban compound in the village of Jaw-e-Mekh Zareen in the Tangi Valley. However, the AP has reported, the Afghan forces never staffed the outpost after American forces left, and the Taliban moved back in. Aerial view of Osama bin Laden's compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad, made by the CIA. The team boarded Extortion 17 with Dave Carter and Bryan Nichols at the controls. 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. As more responsibilities fall on the shoulders of special forces, the risk of more losses like this one will continue to increase. What went so terribly wrong? 30 Americans Killed Including 22 SEALs When Afghan - ABC News Special forces are very selective on who they partner with, but any collaboration with Afghans opens up U.S. Get the latest breaking news from North Texas and beyond. Mills, a 13-year veteran of the military . Just after entering the Tangi, as Extortion 17 continued to descend and decelerate toward its landing zone, the helicopter passed through the narrowest portion of the valley. You never want to use the same landing zone twice, Darack said. No one saw two Taliban armed with grenade launchers standing on a mud-brick turret well within range of the descending chopper. That June, the U.S. military launched Operation Hammer Down to drive out insurgents entrenched in remote strongholds of eastern Afghanistan. Then they have to stick the landing. Darack did extensive research of what happened next. Donald Trump Retweeted A Conspiracy Theory that Biden Had Seal Team 6 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. The families accept the fact that a single shot brought down the helicopter. The crash killed 38 people, including 15 Navy SEALs. 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. The guy was incredibly skilled.. 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 . 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 loss of a helicopter carrying more than 20 U.S. special forces and as many as 8 other U.S. military service members is an unprecedented one in this war. The Taliban shot at the Chinooks all the time with RPGs and rifles, Darack said. 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. His father Billy Vaughn recounted Thursday a phone call from his son following the White House decision to credit the highly secretive military unit for the bin Laden raid. 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. 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. 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. In fact, Chinooks are better protected from newer, more sophisticated threats than from older, more crude ones. Ninty-six days after the death of Osama bin Laden by SEAL Team Six, an old Vietnam era Army Reserve helicopter, call sign "Extortion 17," was shot down in the Wardak Province, Tangi River Valley, Afghanistan on Aug 6, 2011.On board the Chinook CH-47D were 15 members of SEAL Team Six, 15 SEAL Team Six Support personnel, 1 Bomb Dog, 7 unidentified members of the Afghan National Army, and 1 . The co-pilot, Bryan Nichols, was one of Lee's closest friends in the Chinook company. Planners had created an absolutely sound mission. 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 shootdown was the single, deadliest loss of U.S. forces in the war. 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. The RPG that struck Extortion 17 threw the helicopter into an uncontrollable spin. "He said, 'Mom, there's chatter. The Benghazi attack in 2012 plays a part in some other versions of the tale. Winds whipped through the fir trees. Stay informed daily on the latest news and advice on COVID-19 from the editors at U.S. News & World Report. Mr. Klayman said the NSA has agreed to provide some information. Trump, who is running for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, announced a slate of futuristic new policies in a campaign video Friday. 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. Almost 10 years after 9/11, here's what led to the death of Osama bin Laden. At that time, this marked deadliest moment in the war in Afghanistan. Although the Taliban have claimed to have shot the helicopter down, U.S. officials have only identified the attackers as insurgents. SEAL Team 6 Families Force Congress To Investigate Mysterious Chopper Crash How SEAL Team 6 . "We have an ideology problem with this war, and we need to address it. SEAL TEAM SIX - Extortion 17 EXPOSED - YouTube The aircraft jerked. Petty Officer 1st Class Aaron Vaughn was one of the SEAL Team 6 operators who died in the crash. As they made their approach, there was a line of thunderstorms nearby. Whether enemy fire brought down the Chinook or a tree strike would never be known for sure. Joe Pappalardo is a contributing writer at Popular Mechanics and author of the new book, Spaceport Earth: The Reinvention of Spaceflight. This story has been corrected to reflect that only some of the families of the fallen SEALs say their loved ones were deliberately endangered. because seals have a habit of writing books once they retire. A collection of moments during and after Barack Obama's presidency. 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. How SEAL Team Six Took Out Osama bin Laden - HISTORY 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. They loaded onto Extortion 17, and then Carter and Nichols lifted the Chinook into the night sky. A junior, he was ready to fight, but the war would be over, he figured, before he even got out of college. In the immediate wake of the tragedy, the military initiated two investigations. The more likely explanation seems to be that the president, like a lot of us, tweets without thinking, especially if the subject matter is something that praises him or denigrates his political opponents. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, 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. 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. 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. Originally published August 6, 2011 at 10:50 am Updated August 6, 2011 at 3:16 pm. And to this day, people are still debating what really happened. The Associated Press contributed to this report. 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. As reported on by The Daily Beast, Trump retweeted a message posted by an account called Oscar the Midnight Rider 1111, which alleges that Hiden Biden and Obama may have had Seal team 6 killed! 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. He knew the pilots and crew members aboard Extortion 17. 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. Charles Strange, whose son Michael, 25, died in the attack said Obama personally promised him a thorough investigation of what happened but has failed to deliver. But why? Fallen Angel: Call Sign - Extortion 17 (2021) - IMDb A Defense Department special operations official told a House subcommittee last year that there is no indication the mission was compromised by the Afghans. The Chinook is often used to assist in disaster relief, delivering food and water after earthquakes and floods. "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 team began intense training for the operation, which included practicing in a life-sized replica of the compound. 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 sheer amount of experience with our pilots, flight engineers and back-seaters and mechanics offered a wealth of knowledge, he said. About a dozen of the 33 troops in the back of the helicopter suffered broken bones, heavy bruises and scrapes. 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. No family members were allowed to testify. 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. SEAL Team 6 and what really happened on America's deadliest day in The reality is, every time a helicopter lifts off the ground in a war zone, it might get shot down, Darack said. Today, some family members are not just disappointed in the investigation and the FOIA process, but also in how the House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee on national security conducted a brief hearing in Feb. 2014. A native of Pittsburgh, Pa., he remains obsessively curious about Texans and the Lone Star State culture. Ultimately, bin Laden was found and killed within nine minutes, and SEAL Team Six was credited with carrying out a nearly flawless mission. Located in a remote and dangerous province in eastern Afghanistan, the base was the target of near-constant rocket attacks from Taliban insurgents. Extortion 17 then plummeted to the ground and erupted in a massive fireball. The Chinook smashed into the ground, the force ripping off his goggles. 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. This critical, but completely uncontrollable, aspect of war, is well-known among fighters like Buddy. 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). "So much of the war is fought in areas where these helicopters have to fly at high altitudes," where the thin air can strain the performance of the engines and rotor blades, said Ed Darack, author of the recently published book, The Final Mission of Extortion 17: Special Ops, Helicopter Support, SEAL Team Six and the Deadliest Day of the U.S. War in Afghanistan. Copyright 2023 The Washington Times, LLC. AP sources: Crash kills members of SEAL Team 6 They start the movie showing George W Bush saying that after 9/11 we will hunt down those responsible.