Debunking Two Persistent Myths of the War in Afghanistan

Angry Planet

Matthew Gault

War, Politics, Conflict, Government, History, News

4.3 • 882 Ratings

🗓️ 27 September 2017

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On August 6, 2011, an American Chinook helicopter named Extortion 17 carried 38 people—including 15 members of SEAL Team Six—to an area 40 miles southwest of Kabul. As the helicopter made its final descent to land, a group of insurgents fired an RPG at it. The lucky shot destroyed the helicopter’s rear rotor and the subsequent crash killed everyone on board. It was the greatest loss of life from a single incident in the Afghan war.

This week on War College, journalist Ed Darack walks us through the last moments of Extortion 17. It’s the subject of his new 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. Darack’s meticulous reporting sets the record straight on a tragic accident that’s long been the subject of conspiracy theories.

Pick up a copy of Darack’s book.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Love this podcast.
0:02.0	Support this show through the A-Cast supporter feature.
0:05.0	It's up to you how much you give,
0:07.0	and there's no regular commitment.
0:09.0	Just click the link in the show description to support now.
0:19.0	If you're in a right position you can throw a rock. You know, if you're in a cliff and a helicopter flies by and you throw a rock and it hits the right part of the helicopter,
0:25.0	you're going to take it out a weekly podcast that brings you the stories from behind the front lines.
0:42.0	Here are your hosts, Matthew Galt. And I'm Jason Field.
1:01.0	Ed Derek is a writer and photographer who's been in and out of both Iraq and Afghanistan for more than a decade.
1:06.0	He's here today to talk about Extortion 17, the call sign of a CH47 Chinook.
1:11.0	It's an aircraft dogged by controversy and conspiracy. But I'll let Derek tell us about it.
1:16.4	It's the subject of his new book, The Final Mission of Extortion 17, Special Ops, Helicopter Support,
1:21.8	Seal Team 6, and the Deadliest day of the U.S. war in Afghanistan.
1:26.0	Ed, thank you so much for joining us.
1:28.0	Thank you very much.
1:29.0	What is the story? What was Extortion 17 and what happened to it it was the call sign of a
1:35.4	CH 47 D helicopter that was part of extortion company which was an ad mixture of
1:41.5	regular Army Army reserves which was an ad mixture of regular army, army reservists, and army national guards people.
1:48.9	And there was part of task force, Knight Hawk, it was based out of Ford Operating Base Shank. Extortion 1-7 was on what's called an immediate
1:58.0	reaction force mission. They were supporting joint Special Operations Command troops on the ground, 75th Ranger Regiment in
2:06.1	Tangi Valley, about 40 miles south east of Kabul, Afghanistan and a lucky shot, a lucky RPG shot hit one of the rear rotor blades
2:18.8	and it killed everybody on board to the almost instantly.
	...

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