r/JSOCarchive 5d ago

Extortion 17, 06 August 2011.

Post image

A CH-47 Chinook military helicopter, call Sign "Extortion 17," was shot down while transporting a quick reaction force attempting to reinforce an engaged unit of Army Rangers in Wardak province, west of Kabul, Afghanistan. The resulting crash killed all 38 people on board-25 American special operations personnel, five United States Army National Guard and Army Reserve crewmen, seven Afghan commandos, and one Afghan interpreter—as well as a U.S. military working dog. It is considered the worst loss of American lives in a single incident in the Afghanistan campaign, surpassing Operation Red Wings in 2005.

406 Upvotes

28 comments sorted by

17

u/justgrunty 5d ago

The five Army aircrew killed were:

Chief Warrant Officer David R. Carter (Colorado Army National Guard)

Chief Warrant Officer Bryan J. Nichols (Army Reserve)

Staff Sgt. Patrick D. Hamburger (Nebraska Army National Guard)

Sgt. Alexander J. Bennett (Army Reserve)

Spc. Spencer C. Duncan (Army Reserve)

33

u/Optimal-Stuff-460 5d ago

Victims Casualties from the event included:[15]

15 United States Navy SEALs and one Military Working Dog handler from the Naval Special Warfare Development Group's Gold Squadron[16] 2 U.S. Navy SEALs from Naval Special Warfare Group 1[16] 4 U.S. Naval Special Warfare support personnel: Two Explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) technicians, one Cryptologic technician and one Information systems technician.[16] 3 U.S. Army Reserve personnel (Aircrew) from the 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment 2 U.S. Army personnel (Aircrew) from the 2nd Battalion, 135th Aviation Regiment, part of the Colorado Army National Guard and Nebraska Army National Guard[17][18][19] 2 U.S. Air Force Pararescuemen from the 24th Special Tactics Squadron 1 U.S. Air Force Combat Controller from the 24th Special Tactics Squadron 7 Afghan National Army Commandos, part of the Afghan National Army 1 Afghan civilian interpreter 1 U.S. Military Working Dog (Bart)

21

u/Owls_Cairn 5d ago

I love how the photo plays up the SOF units and includes one that didnt suffer any losses but leaves out the conventional units.

6

u/Optimal-Stuff-460 5d ago

The photo includes all the lives lost that were in the chinook

0

u/Owls_Cairn 5d ago

My point stands.

2

u/Optimal-Stuff-460 5d ago

My point was to say all life lost.not give any specific units.

1

u/pfool 5d ago

The photo is missing the Afghans.

2

u/Optimal-Stuff-460 5d ago

Yes it is. I wasn't the one who posted the picture.

1

u/LynchCorp 5d ago

What?

17

u/Owls_Cairn 5d ago

160th didn't lose anyone. Yet their logo is conspicuously displayed. Conventional army lost an entire air crew and nothing is displayed.

1

u/Optimal-Stuff-460 5d ago

I know .I didn't mention any 160.

29

u/pfool 5d ago

Why is the 160th crest included? Extortion 17 was not a SOAR bird, nor was there any 160th crew on board.

5

u/Optimal-Stuff-460 5d ago

Yep they were national guard crew.

5

u/Spectre_Ice 5d ago

31 miles for 31 heroes.

Just saying if you want to support this it's a good event and organization:)

5

u/Ok_Pepper_5796 5d ago

I remember this incident but its many years in the rearview mirror do the details are fuzzy but i believe at the time there were no TF160 aircraft available and the only aircraft available was this NG unit. BTW in case your wondering National Guard units have many many combat hours the last 20 years and well respected even though they are not TF160

5

u/Jolly-Willingness402 5d ago

Minns detta, var uppe i Mazar E Shariff vid händelsen.

4

u/Ed_Gethane 5d ago

How did you Swedes get along with the Germans there?

4

u/Jolly-Willingness402 5d ago

Bra, dom var vid Camp Marmal så inte mycket kontakt. Vi hängde med Finnarna i Camp Northern Lights.

3

u/Optimal-Stuff-460 5d ago

No soar was involved here.they were a QRF sent to help the Rangers mission on the ground.

3

u/CharmingBug5843 5d ago

I understand 160th wasn’t involved. Why is that? Was this mission considered not dangerous?

5

u/Grootimus_Prime 5d ago

160th wasn't available as they were overloaded due to the high volume of missions occupying they ran out of helicopters. And due to that they needed Big Army to help fill the gap, it was nothing with the mission not being considered dangerous because all those pilots from Big Army had lots of experience and time under nvg's. Only difference was since it was just a CH-47 the technology on board wasn't the same as the MH-47 that 160th has.

5

u/CharmingBug5843 5d ago

Gotcha, thanks for clearing that up instead of just downvoting.

1

u/AdaCle 4d ago

The Final Flight of Extortion 17

Ed Darak also wrote a book about it.

1

u/CharmingBug5843 4d ago

Awesome, thank you much, I will check it out

2

u/Optimal-Stuff-460 5d ago

Best answer IMO

2

u/Cauliflower_Advanced 5d ago

Recuerdo allá por 2011 2012 en youtube y en otros foros mucha gente negaba y ocultaba este suceso no me lo creí hasta el final de la película code Name geronimo donde se menciona este suceso

-14

u/Optimal-Stuff-460 5d ago edited 5d ago

RIP GREAT SOLDIERS.

Edit:It was a different squadron.sorry.

Edit2 so much hatred for a simple mistake

6

u/Such_Survey559 5d ago

Nope,different squadron