Posted on 08/06/2021 4:42:02 AM PDT by OwenKellogg
On the tenth anniversary of the deadliest helicopter loss in the history of U.S. special operations, a new documentary examines the unresolved questions about what really happened aboard the CH-47 whose callsign was Extortion 17.
"The families of the fallen want to know why their loves ones were lost," the film's director, Stephen Spivey, told Just the News. "They deserve answers. The American people deserve answers."
Spivey hopes that the documentary, "Fallen Angel," will honor the 30 Americans — most of them Navy SEALs — who died, and will prompt Americans to demand an investigation.
The CH-47 Chinook military helicopter went down in the Tangi Valley of Afghanistan on Aug. 6, 2011. The helicopter's mission was to ferry reinforcements for an already treacherous mission. The 40,000 pound aircraft carried 30 Americans, eight Afghans, and one military working dog.
One Pentagon official in 2014 described for Congress how the crash unfolded.
"Tragically, as Extortion 17 was nearing its landing zone, Taliban fighters, hidden in a building, fired two or three rocket-propelled grenades at close range, leaving the pilot no chance to perform evasive maneuvers," said Garry Reid, who served in the office of Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict. "One rocket struck a rotor blade, causing the aircraft to crash almost instantly."
Everyone aboard was killed, including the dog.
The recovery operation commenced immediately, and spanned four days. The bodies of the fallen and most of the wreckage was recovered.
The crash sent shock waves throughout U.S. special operations. The SEAL Team 6 community was devastated.
"The downing of Extortion 17 was a catastrophic and unprecedented tragedy for our nation," Reid testified.
When the shock subsided, questions arose — and persisted. Where was the Chinook's black box cockpit recorder? According to Reid, the aircraft did not have such a flight data recorder. Others claimed that it did, and that the vital piece of equipment had been washed away in a flash flood. Additional questions raised increasingly sinister scenarios. Were bullets found in the SEALs' bodies? What did the autopsies reveal about how the fallen had died?
The trailer to "Fallen Angel" delves into those questions and others, including, was the fire control officer of a nearby AC-130 gunship denied permission to engage the enemy? And if so, why?
"Rules of engagement play a big role in the film," Spivey said. "That's a very big part of it. The documentary covers the inherent dangers when the ROE move too far from the law of war."
Aside from examining troubling mysteries, Spivey said, the documentary pays tribute to those who lost their lives that night in Afghanistan.
"We must honor the fallen," Spivey said. "We need to remember their names and stand for what they fought for."
Part of that process is to insist that American warriors are supported while in the thick of combat.
"If we are going to train our military to defend freedom, we must trust it to accomplish the mission, within the law of war," Spivey said. "Poor rules of engagement get our men and women killed. It's time for a change."
In terms of Extortion 17, the filmmaker said, the military should continue to look into what happened aboard the ill-fated aircraft. Investigators should look inside conex containers; inspect radiographs; and examine the remaining weapons from the mission.
"People feel unsettled by what happened," Spivey said. "It merits examination. It's heartbreaking for the families, and frustrating for the Department of Defense."
The trailer and full version of "Fallen Angel" can be viewed here.
Then he’s an idiot who has absolutely no idea what he is talking about.
unfortunately, I could believe the scenario you just described
10 second search reveals that CH-47’s did not have “black boxes” at that time. I have conformed that with a crew chief at the local Army Aviation base that has Chinook’s.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/mar/23/army-delayed-chinook-helicopters-black-box-until-i/
conformed = confirmed.
More Coffee miss, please.
Look up MH47s.
The 160th SOAR doesn’t fly CH47S.
The Information Age has the potential to bring truth to all the people of the world. It also has a dark side: It can bring them untruth, disinformation, and propaganda, and it can support the law of the jungle.
The most important single thing that benevolent people can do is demand truth—truth for its own sake—whatever that may be, wherever it may reveal itself, regardless of the consequences.
* * *
Well said, Savage — but enlightened — Beast
Truth is music. It soothes the savage beast, in all of us.
Those souls out there aching for enlightenment, need look no further than truth, and it's right there before us, for all to see.
Its called tying up loose ends.
Extortion 17 was a CH-47 from the Colorado National Guard.
https://sofrep.com/news/extortion-17-setting-record-straight-myths-misinformation-extortion-17/
Nice rant.....
People are fat and happy ....willfully ignorant
...wilfully blind to the immense danger they're in!Will anything awaken those who are deafened by denial? The consequences are grave. History itself shouts warnings. The shouts are thunderous. Truth-seekers can only gasp in horror. Truth is ubiquitous; yet millions ignore it.
He's saying Seal Team 6 was sacrificed because they took out bin Laden. "
Correct me if I'm wrong but I remember the operators for the Ben Laden raid were kept super secret.
Then, VP Biteme (the present fraud in the White Hut) let it slip (I'm betting purposely) that it was Seal Team 6 that got Obamer Ben Laden.
His responses on just about any topic are almost always racist.
Then, VP Biteme (the present fraud in the White Hut) let it slip (I'm betting purposely) that it was Seal Team 6 that got Obamer Ben Laden.Brennen was first, then Biden, and finally Leon Panetta.
[...]Looks as if there was a full court press to make the information public.....White House homeland security chief’s John Brennan’s Monday on-the-record briefing, which offered far more detail than a background session conducted the same day at the Pentagon. Brennan spoke in front of cameras about bin Laden being protected by female human shields, and implied he was armed — both of which had to be retracted as untrue the next day (the very act of retraction means the speaker had drifted into discussing operational details that had to be…retracted).
[...]
Later the same day, May 3, Vice President Joe Biden let the cat out of the bag. While the press had been reporting SEAL Team 6 carried out the mission, no one in government had confirmed that fact.
But at a fancy dinner in honor of the Atlantic Council’s 50th anniversary, where U.S. NATO chief Adm. James Stavridis was honored, Biden couldn’t contain himself.
Let me briefly acknowledge tonight’s distinguished honorees. Admiral James Stavridis is a, is the real deal. He can tell you more about and understands the incredible, the phenomenal, the just almost unbelievable capacity of his Navy SEALs and what they did last Sunday.(Feel free to ignore the fact that the SEALs killed bin Laden on Monday.)
Biden, never one known for verbal reticence, then repeated his gaffe:Folks, I’d be remiss also if I didn’t say an extra word about the incredible events, extraordinary events of this past Sunday. As Vice President of the United States, as an American, I was in absolute awe of the capacity and dedication of the entire team, both the intelligence community, the CIA, the SEALs. It just was extraordinary.(If you’ve every been to one of these shindigs, you know how boring they can be — so credit goes to Biden for livening things up.)
Not only did Biden say it twice, he got confirmation that same evening from a pretty good source: CIA director Leon Panetta, who told PBS that the decision to shoot bin Laden “was all split-second action on the part of the SEALs.”
With the benefit of hindsight, no way it WASN'T intentional, IMO.
Thank you for the ping. Ten years! I am so disillusioned. Best wishes to you.
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