That June, the U.S. military launched Operation Hammer Down to drive out insurgents entrenched in remote strongholds of eastern Afghanistan. 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. Family members question SEAL Team 6's most deadly incident. Since filing a lawsuit, Mr. Klayman says, he has been stonewalled by the Justice Department, the Defense Department, the CIA and the National Security Agency. The RPG that struck Extortion 17 threw the helicopter into an uncontrollable spin. Sign up for The Top of the World, delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. "Chance will always play a role in war," stated Justin "Buddy" Lee, the commander of Extortion Company, who had flown with Dave Carter the night before Extortion 17's demise on a similar raid, and who had co-piloted a number of missions with Bryan Nichols. "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,'' President Obama said Saturday. There were guys in a tower. After the helicopter crash on August 6, 2011. The assassination of Osama bin Laden was a significant victory for the U.S. government and the American people at large. But why? The helicopter crashed into a creek bed and a flash flood shortly afterward washed away some parts of the wreckage. 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. 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. While the press conference was long on speculation and short on concrete evidence, the family members and their supporters didn't pull any punches. It was a good crew, it really was. Lees wife, Christy, hoped the news would bring a sudden end to the war. It's a scary thought. 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. This incident could be a sign of things to come: The crash happened in Tanji, where the U.S. closed a combat outpost in April. On a moonless night, an Army Chinook helicopter swept low over the Tangi Valley, a strip of forbidding terrain in eastern Afghanistan teeming with Taliban and located just 35 miles south of the capital, Kabul. 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. The Joint Combat Assessment Team report identified, through detailed metallurgical analysis, the type of projectile that blew Extortion 17 out of the sky: an antipersonnel unguided ballistic rocket propelled grenade. 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. Mills, a 13-year veteran of the military . It had been loaded well within its limits. After Vice President Joe Biden revealed that SEAL Team 6 carried out the operation that killed Osama bin Laden in May 2011, Strange said the members of his son's team gave startling indications to their families they were about to meet their demise. "A NATO helicopter crashed last night in Wardak province," Karzai said in the statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. Somebody was leaking to the Taliban, said Mr. Darack did extensive research of what happened next. The pilots, crew and Chinook helicopters of "Extortion Company," the conventional Army aviation unit to which Extortion 17 belonged, had supported over 90 percent of raids conducted by Rangers and SEALs of JSOC in that region; the flight in question was nothing out of the ordinary. President Trump has also claimed, including in the first presidential debate, that Biden opposed the raid that took out Bin Laden. The crash sent shock waves throughout U.S. special operations. The event was organized by Freedom Watch, a conservative advocacy group, at the National Press Club. I will never forget what they did, he said. ", 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.". 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. The mission itself has proven controversial to some family members. U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity because families of those killed are still being notified. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. "In releasing their identity, they put a target on their backs," said Doug Hamburger, whose son, Army Staff Sgt. Aerial view of Osama bin Laden's compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad, made by the CIA. It was exactly four years ago, at 2:22 a.m., that a rebuilt conventional CH-47 Chinook helicopter took off from a forward operating base, carrying some of the most skilled and advanced warriors ever molded by U.S. special operations. "He said, 'Mom, there's chatter. 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. 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. But no one died. The CH-47D that embarked on the mission that day had been built in the 1960s, she said, and last retrofitted in the 1985. But why? Composed primarily of members of the 75th Ranger Regiment, which falls under the authority of the secretive Joint Special Operations Command, or JSOC, the team sought to capture or kill a powerful insurgent leader, Qari Tahir, known to coalition forces by his designation "Lefty Grove." 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. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver. Still, SEAL Team Sixs bold raid to take down bin Laden was an extraordinary operation that most experts regard as a resounding success. But we are still sending people to another country to fight, and we need to understand why were doing that, he said. You never want to use the same landing zone twice, Darack said. The chopper's manifest. Could an enemy have specifically targeted the U.S. special forces team that took down bin Laden? 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. Nearby, there were two enemy fighters with rocket-propelled grenade launchers. May 1 (EDT)1:25 p.m. President Obama, along with other top officials, formally approve the execution of Operation Neptune Spear.1:51 p.m. Stealth Black Hawk helicopters take off from Afghanistan, carrying a group of 25 Navy SEALs.3:30 p.m. The choppers land on the compound in Abbottabad. 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). What in the world was that Navy Seals conspiracy that Trump retweeted? 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. Nobody involved had overlooked even the most minute detail. Saturday's deaths bring the total number of coalition troops killed in Afghanistan to 334 this year, according to the Associated Press. My life is in danger. A number of the DEVGRU SEALs were devastated by this loss . They have to slow down to land or allow troops to rappel to the ground. Legal Statement. Lee earned his wings at Fort Rucker, Ala., then deployed to Pakistan, where he did humanitarian missions, learning to fly into and out of mountainous terrain. Only the pilots, crew, and special operations ground forces commanders knew about the planned flight path and time. Additional forces were then sent to secure the crash site. Helicopter raids are dangerous and unpredictable. Extortion 17 then plummeted to the ground and erupted in a massive fireball. Flying 250 feet above the valley floor at just under 70 miles per hour, Dave Carter, the pilot to the right of Nichols, guided the helicopter toward a carefully chosen landing zone just over a mile away. Does Donald Trump believe that Joe Biden played a part in murdering those Navy Seals? Stephen M. Mills, 35, of Fort Worth, was one of the U.S. Navy SEALS killed in the helicopter crash. 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. .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. Planners had created an absolutely sound mission. And you know, never before in the history of our county (had) a sitting president released that type of information to the public, especially when he was talking about special forces. The guy was incredibly skilled.. He pushed hard on the cyclic stick to tilt the helicopter forward. The worst of the wounded was one of Lees crew members, who suffered what was later diagnosed as a severe traumatic brain injury. This story has been corrected to reflect that only some of the families of the fallen SEALs say their loved ones were deliberately endangered. There was no conspiracy. Ten computer hard drives, five computers and more than 100 storage devices were retrieved. 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. Winds whipped through the fir trees. As they started their descent, Lee heard a loud popping noise. Some of the most highly trained and skilled war fighters in history, the Rangers moved overland to a location where intelligence indicated Lefty Grove and his small cadre of fighters would be holding a meeting. The Pentagons witness stuck to a theme that no mistakes were made that night, though the investigative file contained testimony from a number of witnesses saying the mission was riddled with missteps. The shootdown was the single, deadliest loss of U.S. forces in the war. No family members were allowed to testify. Landing in deserts or mountainsides, the helicopter rotors kick up clouds of sand and dust, causing brownouts that can blind a pilot. Caring is more than just slapping a bumper sticker on your car, he said. Were pleading with the judge to do something, and hes just sitting on it., In one of his motions, Mr. Klayman stated: As this Court must be aware, this is not an ordinary Freedom of Information Act case, it involves obtaining records concerning the deaths of Navy SEAL Team 6 and other special operations forces on a mission with the call sign Extortion 17. I find it quite disturbing that the government is not willing to give us the answers we deserve. I had to learn how to land while browned-out, wearing NVGs, on the side of a mountain or an uneven field, Lee said. For now, let's assume the Chinook was shot down, and by a rocket. they won't view it as wrong, just a "necessary" sacrifice for your country. 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. Oops, this content can't be loadedbecause you're having connectivity problems, Stay always informed and up to date with our breaking news alerts, - The Washington Times - Wednesday, August 5, 2015.