"Extortion 17 – Remember Our Brothers"

I'm glad you posted this. I was putting together a thread and discovered it was already posted. Thank you for remembering this horrific event. What a loss to the SOC community.
John 15:13

Amen

I was in tears off and on for 6 hours after first hearing. Still can't think about it without the emotions. RIP dear brothers.

Rest in Peace Brothers of Extortion 17

This was a very sad day for all concerned. I saw a documentary about helicopters and they discussed the CH-47. I didn't realize how awesome and powerful they are. Not sure how most pilots feel about them, but the ones interviewed loved it. They got trapped in a sandstorm and the avionics/navigation package bailed them out. Without it, I believe they may have perished. Maybe they weren't the correct platform for this mission, but it could have been all that was available. I haven't read much about the mission, but am aware that most believe many major mistakes were made. RIP Warriors.

I am a Vietnam veteran as a military historian in my misspent youth I had the great honor to serve with the Air Cavalry Division and so I know exactly what I am talking about when I tell you exactly why EXTORTION 17 was destroyed minus all the conspiracy theories. What happened is that when Army Aviation became a separate branch they decided that their units would be reorganized and they forgot every lesson that we paid for with or blood sweat and tears. What retired Air Force Captain Joni Marquez said is just the beginning of the whole fiasco.
Under the Air Cavalry Division there were two Assault Helicopter (Huey) Battalions each had one headquarters company, three lift companies and one aero weapons company to provide suppressive fire support and one Assault Support (Chinook) Helicopter Battalion. We were never at full strength because of Army politics. In an Air Cavalry Division the Aviation Brigades and the three Maneuver (Infantry) Brigades were commanded by colonels. Division Artillery was commanded by a brigadier general. There was one Air Cavalry Squadron made up of a headquarters troop, three Air Cavalry Troops and one Ground Cavalry Troop. Although there was supposed to be an Air Cavalry Combat Brigade of One Air Cavalry Combat Squadron made up of a headquarters troop and four Air Cavalry Troops and three Attack Helicopter Troops commanded by a colonel it was never organized.
Now if the particular organization was a Separate Brigade it was commanded by a brigadier general and not by a colonel. Does anyone else see what actually caused all these deaths? Does the phrase service politics ring a bell?
Here are the cold hard facts of what caused these deaths
1) Chinooks are not assault helicopters they are assault support helicopters! That means you do not use them to fly the first wave of an air assault they are used to bring in supporting elements once the landing zone is secured.
2) The lead element of an air assault should be brought in Blackhawk assault helicopters. Which should be organized as one Headquarters Company, three lift companies and one aero weapons company to provide suppressive fire support. The Blackhawk has these capabilities plus air to air refueling capabilities.
3) The aircrews were from the Army Reserve and the Colorado Army National Guard who decided to put tier one Special Operations Units in aircraft crewed by them?
4) When Army Aviation became a separate branch they reorganized their units they choose to concentrate on the AH64 attack helicopter and in the case of EXTORTION 17 there was no AH64 attack helicopter support.
5) Some members of the Navy SEAL teams are suspicious of the Obama administration, according to several sources. Possibly there was some reoperation talk from the White House. When Vice President Biden named Dev. Group he certainly violated security protocols. The British never name a special operation unit unless they want to send a message as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher did during the Iranian Embassy Siege in 1980 when they showed the Special Air Service storming the building on television worldwide.
6) The MH-60L DAP: The Direct Action Penetrator is configured as a gunship with no troop-carrying capacity. Hughes M230 Chain Gun is a 30 mm, single-barrel automatic cannon developed by Hughes Helicopters and now manufactured by Alliant Techsystems. It is an electrically operated chain gun a weapon that uses external electrical power (as opposed to recoil or expanding gas generated by the firing cartridge) to cycle the weapon between shots. Two M134D miniguns are used as door guns and there are other weapons systems which can be added to the aircraft.
7) The MH- 60M Two M134D miniguns are used as door guns and carry 11 troops. YOU DONNOT HAVE ALL YOUR EGGS IN ONE BASKET!!!

Amen God Bless America and God Bless Their Families

I missed this post on the day, but always in my thoughts; never forgotten. Semper Fi.