They may have seen Extortion 17 and its landing zone through their own night vision goggles or simply aimed by sound alone. Thirty members of the American special forces have been killed in Afghanistan in the deadliest day of the 10-year war for US military personnel when the Taliban shot down . And I condemn anyone who would dare denigrate the flag of the greatest country in the world which is made so by the heroic actions of these great men. The helicopter crashed less than 5 seconds later, killing all 38 people on board. To lose even one precious life is too many, and the United States lost 38 soldiers that day. LOL, Ray Williams 509th RRCUV (Army Security Agency) Feb68-Apr71. On such missions, the Chinook pilots nearly always fly at night, wearing night vision goggles, or NVGs. Nichols had deployed three times to combat zones, and Carter, with more than 4,000 hours of flight time, was one of the most experienced helicopter pilots in the U.S. military. #neverforgotten #screwedbygovt #demmandanswers. These are the words of Billy Vaughn. The mission had begun about four hours prior to the shootdown, when the two helicopters touched down side by side in Juy Zarin, a village in the bare rock-walled Tangi Valley of Wardak Province. Sgt. Extortion 16 flew empty. His account of the brave pilots, crew, and passengers of Extortion 17 and . And while all military helicopters carry countermeasures for guided missiles, nothing can interdict the dumb luck of an unguided RPG round sailing through the air. [29], Other reports alleged that the Taliban had laid an elaborate trap for American special-operations forces, luring them in with false information. At the flight controls were David R. Carter of the Colorado Army National Guard and copilot Bryan J. Nichols, a Kansas-based Army reservist. On board the Chinook CH-47D were 15 members of SEAL Team Six, 15 SEAL Team Six Support personnel, 1 Bomb Dog, 7 . "[31][32] NBC News reported that the Pentagon released the names of the 30 Americans killed. That night, nearly 10 years after the U.S. had gone to war in Afghanistan, Lee believed they were the best team for this dangerous mission. Many of these SEALs were made famous, credited with the killing of Osama bin Laden. Instead, two rigorous U. S. military investigations followed every moment of the mission to determine what went wrong on Extortion 17s final flight. August 6, 2022 marks 11 years since Extortion 17. He would not have hesitated to fly with any of them. On August 6, 2011, a U.S. Boeing CH-47 Chinook military helicopter 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. Spec Ops Magazine 2023 All Rights Reserved. For every one that gets lucky, there are hundreds, even thousands, that zip by you., As weve seen a number of times, theres a point that a lucky shot is going to get you and there is only so much you can do to mitigate it, says Glover, the Marine aviator. Lee, now a captain, was placed in command of a Chinook helicopter unit at Forward Operating Base Shank. Connor Mendez, courtesy of U.S. Army. Originally just two people, the group eventually swelled to a total of nine or ten fighters, and the special operations task force commander and the Immediate Reaction Force commander became concerned that it might include Tahir. The crew of Slasher 02, the AC-130 circling above, flipped the switch on their powerful light. But what really happened that night? Daniel L. Zerbe, 28, of York, Pennsylvania. He grew up in Tyler, went to Texas A&M;, joined the Corps of Cadets and stared in shock at the news that two planes slammed into the World Trade Center and another into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. But why? Director Franois Garcia Writer Sandeep Panesar Stars Robert O'Neill (archive footage) Patricia Economo Enrique Garcia The squadron that this SEAL belonged to was never mentioned. Mission commanders, believing that Tahir was likely among one of the groups, deployed an Immediate Reaction Force (IRF) to interdict them while the Rangers held the compound. He knew the pilots and crew members aboard Extortion 17. [1][2][3][4], The resulting crash killed all 38 people on board including 17 US Navy SEALs, two United States Air Force Pararescue, one United States Air Force Combat Control Team member, one pilot and two crewmen of the United States Army Reserve, one pilot and one crewman of the United States Army National Guard, seven members of the Afghan National Security Forces, and one Afghan interpreter. All three airmen were assigned to the 24th Special Tactics Squadron, Pope Field, North Carolina. It wasnt preventable. That same day he obtained a medical waiver he needed to pursue an Army commission to serve an eight-year hitch before going to law school. Cookie Settings, 5,000-Year-Old Tavern With Food Still Inside Discovered in Iraq, Archaeologists Discover Wooden Spikes Described by Julius Caesar, The Surprisingly Scientific Roots of Monkey Bars, Kids Start Forgetting Early Childhood Around Age 7, Artificial Sweetener Tied to Risk of Heart Attack and Stroke, Study Finds. Extortion 17 and its 38 occupants would not return. Its crazy how many times I can think of where me or the guys I was with had to do that.. The image released and purported to be Bin Laden was a blended image of an old Bin Laden pic and an image of a different terrorist that was killed in battle. Baseless Claim That Biden Ordered 'Extortion 17' Three months after the raid that killed bin Laden, Taliban fighters shot down a Chinook helicopter carrying 30 U.S. service members, including. "Over two years after Extortion 17 was shot down, the families still have these unanswered questions," said Klayman. Connor Mendez, courtesy of U.S. Army. [11] At 22:37 (local time) on the night of 5 August, a platoon of 47 U.S. Army Rangers left a forward operating base in Logar Province via two CH-47D transport helicopters, one of which would later be involved in the accident. The circumstances surrounding the events of Extortion 17 are tragic. Intelligence on August 6th indicated Qari Tahir was in Tangi Valley, just a short helicopter flight from the SEAL base camp. Yesterday, the Pentagon released the names of the 30 troops-- Navy SEALs, soldiers, and airmen, killed in the helicopter downed by Taliban fighters in eastern Afghanistan last weekend. The landing zone had been examined for a previous mission but had not yet been used. Cookie Policy unfolded that night are commonly referred to as Extortion 17, which is the call sign for the helicopter transporting the special op-erations personnel. U.S. Special Operations Command possesses its own specialized ChinooksMH-47sflown by the ultra-secretive 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, the Night Stalkers. The MH-47s modifications include inflight refueling probes, additional and upgraded sensors, more powerful engines, and more powerful defensive weapons than their conventional counterparts. There is still a tremendous level of chance for a tragedy of such huge magnitude.. | Theyre going after in very hostile environments, who know the terrain very well, who know the battlescape very well, Darack said. Less than five seconds after the RPG round hit, the helicopter spun uncontrollably, plummeting into a dry creek bed and erupting in a ball of fire that killed all on board. Around 02:23, the two helicopters departed the forward base. Where was the Chinook's black box cockpit recorder? God bless all of them- the bravest of the brave. Why did it happen? Don Brown, a former U.S. Navy JAG officer stationed at the Pentagon, and former Special Assistant United . Its almost always a miss.. As he did, he felt the craft leveling off. THIS COMBAT MARINE SALUTES YOU ALL WE ALL GET A NEW STATION WHEN GOD OKS OUR TRANSFER I AM QUITE CERTAIN THAT GOD LOVES WARRIORS A BIT MORE THAN WE MIGHT REALIZE, I always suspected ObamaTard had something to do with this tragedy. | READ MORE. So much of the war is fought in areas where these helicopters have to fly at high altitudes, where the thin air can strain the performance of the engines and rotor blades, said Ed Darack, author of the recently published 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. I had to learn how to land while browned-out, wearing NVGs, on the side of a mountain or an uneven field, Lee said. Chance is still part of the battlefield, says Brady. It was a good crew, it really was. Sometimes the enemy succeeds in delivering one of these To whom it may concern projectiles. Play FALLEN ANGEL Call Sign: Extortion 17. BUT the Chief Command and those who elected him will pay for there failure to seek Yahwahs guidance before going to war or to vote for a new president! When asked what lessons Americans can draw from the crash of Extortion 17, Lees answer is simple: Americans should care about what happens in Afghanistan because theyve sent Americans to war there. He was assigned to the 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment (General Support Aviation Battalion), New Century, Kansas, Tech. Senior Chief Robert James Reeves was one of those Americans. The shooters origin remains a mystery. The crash is referred to as Extortion 17 by the callsign of the CH-47 Chinook helicopter involved in the crash. Restrained by strict rules of engagement in force at the time, the helicopter crews could not have fired without a strong indication of hostile intent. The conspiracy theories didnt bother Lee at first. A senior Afghan government official, speaking anonymously, said that Taliban commander Qari Tahir had fed American forces false information about a meeting of insurgent leaders and fighters waited for the helicopter from both sides of a steep valley: "The Taliban knew which route the helicopter would take. I thought I hit a tree,he said. The second slammed into one of the Chinooks rear rotor blades and exploded, severing 10 feet of it. [9][11], Six minutes later, the Rangers concluded securing the compound, detained several people and began to move on foot toward the crash site. (Smithsonian Books, September 2017). [40], In October 2011, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that an investigation following the shootdown concluded "that all operational decisions, linked to the incident, were deemed tactically sound." There was a lot of experience in that cockpit, the flight engineers and the door gunners. The immediate reaction force Extortion 17 carried should have been flown in two helicopters: Senior JSOC and aviation planners both agreed that the best course of action was to put the entire . If this was survivable, that was the right crew to have. ", "Taliban laid trap for Chinook: official", "Honor Roll: Remembering the 30 U.S. At 31 U.S. military personnel killed, the shoot down of Extortion 17 represents the greatest single-incident loss of U.S. lives in Operation Enduring Freedom - Afghanistan, surpassing the 16. At 10:58 p.m., they were inserted by the same CH-47D helicopters that would later conduct the mission to insert the SEAL team. It was the day we learned our son Aaron and other American warriors had lost their lives in a helo crash in Afghanistan. As Extortion 17 moved into final approach of the target area at 0238 local time, the Rangers on the ground watched in horror as it took a direct hit from an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade). The hardest LZ Id ever been into, Lee said. All 38 passengers aboard Extortion 17, including 30 U.S. military personnel, eight Afghans and a U.S. military working dog, were killed after the transport helicopter was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade. I am so proud to be an American and I thank all of the families left behind to mourn their loss. Learnt of this today, very surprising after ladens raid was covered in the media here. It was a hard landing, but it would have been worse if they had landed tail first. Conspiracy theories started almost immediately. Advertising Notice Ed Darack March 2015 The Chinook's cargo capacity, speed,. But over time, they became more disturbing, including one that suggested the Taliban had been tipped off by someone inside the Afghan government as revenge for bin Ladens killing. In less than five seconds, the helicopter crashed, killing all occupants, and approximately 30 seconds later, one of the AH-64 Apache helicopters radioed in the crash. Are all DEVGRUs saved in a sperm bank? The helicopter fell from the sky, killing all 38 on board. [11], The mission was deemed high risk; two AH-64 Apache helicopters, an AC-130 gunship, and other additional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft supported the troop transports on their approach and remained with the ground forces afterwards. The downing of Extortion 17 spurred a number of conspiracy theories, such as the idea that the shootdown was revenge for bin Laden's death. [9][11], Almost an hour later (01:50), the aviation brigade commander approved a new landing zone for infiltration of the SEAL team. The 30 American Servicemen killed in action (KIA) with the downing of Extortion 17. Their deaths are the greatest single loss of life ever suffered by the U.S. Special Operations community in the 24-year history of the U.S. Special Operations Command.[5][22][15][23]. Several minutes later, a 20-man Pathfinder team (specializing in downed-aircraft rescue and recovery) arrived at the site. At the time of the Juy Zarin raid, the battalion had been flying in Afghanistan for about two weeks. Alexander J. Bennett, 24, of Tacoma, Wash. The Taliban shot at the Chinooks all the time with RPGs and rifles, Darack said. [9][11], Around 02:38, the helicopter was fired upon and shot down by a previously undetected group of Taliban fighters approximately 220m (240yd) south of the helicopter. Landing in deserts or mountainsides, the helicopter rotors kick up clouds of sand and dust, causing brownouts that can blind a pilot. Whether enemy fire brought down the Chinook or a tree strike would never be known for sure. Caring is more than just slapping a bumper sticker on your car, he said. 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 Kabul. Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service. The following was transcribed from the above video press conference. Missions like this one to insert or remove an assault force are the military equivalent of a perfect 10 in the Olympics equal parts skill, experience and daring. August 12, 2022. by Samantha Franco. Privacy Statement For example, on 8 June 2011 another Chinook helicopter was engaged from five to six locations (i.e., points of origin) with 14 rocket-propelled grenades, forcing the crew to abort their mission. Capable of loitering overhead for hours undetected, small fleets of unmanned craft passed imagery to mission planners before and during the raid at Juy Zarin, allowing them to recognize individual fighters, learn their habits, pinpoint where they slept, and identify the types of weapons they carried. For the last two years, hes been an attorney with the law firm Jackson Walker. The Final Mission of Extortion 17: Special Ops, Helicopter Support, SEAL Team Six, and the Deadliest Day of the U.S. War in Afghanistan Hardcover - September 19, 2017 by Ed Darack (Author) 223 ratings Editors' pick Best History See all formats and editions Kindle $13.99 Read with Our Free App Audiobook $0.00 Free with your Audible trial Hardcover Monitored and controlled by a Joint Terminal Attack Controller at Forward Operating Base Shank via a General Atomics MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle, all six were positively confirmed killed by the bomb strike and subsequent attacks by a Lockheed AC-130 gunship and two Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopter gunships. Over time, certain memories will fade, certain details will fade. There's also that little issue that came up when 6 Navy SEALs' funerals were conducted by a Muslim Cleric that condemned them to Hell during the service. The "had Seal team 6 killed" is a likely reference to what's known as the "Extortion 17" incident, the August 2011 tragedy in which a Chinook military helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan,. According to his book, No Easy Day (detailing his participation in Operation Neptune Spear), Mark Owen (the pen name of former SEAL Operator Matt Bissonnette) stated that nearly all of the Operators on that mission were handpicked from Red Squadron. The Chinook helicopter they were aboard was shot down by . Hs unit called itself Extortion Company. One of his Chinooks, flying under the call sign Extortion 17 (one-seven), was tasked with the special operations mission the night of Aug. 6. Gold Star father Bill Vaughn had a heartfelt message to American "leaders" while discussing a documentary that investigates the Extortion 17 helicopter crash in Afghanistan. A junior, he was ready to fight, but the war would be over, he figured, before he even got out of college. [9][10], After American intelligence services discovered in 2011 that senior Taliban leader Qari Tahir was possibly in Tangi Valley, Wardak province, Afghanistan, local American forces launched a mission to apprehend or kill him. On the night of 8 August 2011, an F-16 dropped four GBU-54 "Laser JDAM" bombs on the man, his accomplice and four associates in the Chak Valley, which lies to the west of the Tangi Valley. He presents the Final Flight of EXTORTION 17 (spoken one seven and seventeen), like a Defense Attorney or an investigator. A source from the Navys special operations community described the reaction as Shock and disbelief. The incident became known as "Extortion 17" after the helicopter . Campbell was one of 30. Of those 38 lost, 22 were members of Navy SEAL Team 6, the Naval Special Warfare unit responsible for the killing of notorious 9/11 mastermind Osama The military has worked diligently to more tightly integrate gunship escorts with transport craft, according to Brady. That June, the U.S. military launched Operation Hammer Down to drive out insurgents entrenched in remote strongholds of eastern Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) The downing of a Chinook helicopter gunship (known by its call sign Extortion 17) in Afghanistan on August 6, 2011, has for years been shrouded in mystery, with the . Troops", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2011_Afghanistan_Boeing_Chinook_shootdown&oldid=1142506992, 2 U.S. Navy SEALs from Naval Special Warfare Group 1, 4 U.S. The downing of the Seal Team Six chinook with all of those team members who participated in the Bin Laden raid and the subsequent request by President Obama to destroy the images that were released only adds to the suspicion around the events. Its like taking a paper towel roll, cutting it in half and strapping it to your eye, Lee said. Through the goggles, the landing zone shone brilliantly. The crash is referred to as Extortion 17 by the callsign of the CH-47 Chinook helicopter involved in the crash. "[5], Subsequent reports stated that on the night during which the helicopter had been delivering reinforcements to personnel of the 75th Ranger Regiment, another special operations unit engaged in a night raid on a compound to kill or capture a senior Taliban leader. In The Final Flight of Extortion 17, Ed Darack debunks this theory and others and uncovers the truth behind this mysterious tragedy. The helicopter, call sign Extortion 17, was on a mission to reinforce American and coalition special operations troops. He said, "And now, to our honor roll of American Service Personnel killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. As they made their approach, there was a line of thunderstorms nearby. [34] Kevin Sieff and Greg Jaffe of The Washington Post reported that U.S. officials confirmed the deaths, including 22 SEALs. The torque of the spinning rotor assembly, now catastrophically imbalanced, ripped the rear pylon off the Chinooks fuselage. [11], The 30 American deaths represent the greatest loss of U.S. military lives in a single incident in the war in Afghanistan that began in 2001. The front rotor shattered, and the back pylon sheared off. The shoot-down of 'Extortion 17' constitutes the greatest loss of American life from a single battle in the history of the Afghanistan War. U.S. Navy Seals At 2:38 a.m. on August 6, 2011, a U.S. Army Chinook helicopter, call sign Extortion 17, entered the western opening of Afghanistan's restive Tangi Valley, flying alone. As the Chinook CH-47 transport helicopter (call sign: Extortion 17) carrying 30 U.S. troops, seven Afghan commandos, an Afghan civilian interpreter and a U.S. military dog approached, the. The night before he left to go to Fort Hood, where he would board a plane to Afghanistan, the biggest event of the 10-year war occurred: Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan during a raid by Navy SEALs. The 30 Navy SEALs and other Special Forces personnel, along with the Helicopter flight crew because American Military and Political leaders threw these men under the bus the enemy was driving and then covered it all up with lies and deceit. Lees second deployment started in May of 2011. In light of that raids success, the shootdown of Extortion 17 incited a flurry of conspiracy theories: The Taliban were tipped off; it was a trap; it was retribution for the killing. It also became one of the most devastating death tolls of the U.S. Special Operations Forces. Published Aug 6, 2018 5:05 PM EDT. The CH-47 "Chinook" was carrying some of this nation's bravest and most capable military . The men who serve in the American military are the finest! Hi there! Extortion 17 was attached to a mission to capture or kill a senior Taliban leader, Qari Tahir, near Kabul, Afghanistan. In March 2009, the U.S. 10th Mountain Division established a base in Tangi Valley after increased Taliban activity in the area. While the goggles are better than nothing, they turn everything green, distort depth perception and limit peripheral vision. Fallen Angel.. The Afghan soldiers were an essential part of the package; they were trained to move with our forces to the target. Touch device users can explore by touch or with swipe . Commentdocument.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id", "a62b75e7a99f5de39e28d378788f7ec9" );document.getElementById("c08a1a06c7").setAttribute( "id", "comment" ); Content on this website is free to use and share, but please provide a link back to Spec Ops Magazine as a source. All topics Extortion 17 Documentary 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. extortion 17 crash photos. Photo by Sgt. Early media reports suggested that the Army had been tardy to recover flight recorders from the downed Chinook, and, as a consequence, the recorders had been swept away by the flood. In the afternoon of 6 August, a flash flood swept through the area, washing away parts of the wreckage. Located in a remote and dangerous province in eastern Afghanistan, the base was the target of near-constant rocket attacks from Taliban insurgents. The quick reaction force included SEAL Team 6 and other special operations personnel. The following passage, published in The Navy Times, seems to support that assertion. The crash killed all 38 people on board including 25 American special operations personnel, five United States Army National Guard and Army Reserve crewmen, seven Afghan commandos, one Afghan interpreter, and a U.S. military working dog. First, the Obama administration's Defense Department's crash report stated that there were no eyes in the sky over the Chinook . It is considered the worst loss of American lives in a single incident in the Afghanistan campaign, surpassing Operation Red Wings in 2005. But one thing that doesnt fade is never forgetting what they did.. Monday, 06 August 2012, marks one year since the tragic downing of EXTORTION 17 in Tangi, Afghanistan. When the Boeing CH-47D Chinook helicopter was hit, all 38 onboard were instantly killed. Patrick D. Hamburger, 30, of Lincoln, Neb. He pushed hard on the cyclic stick to tilt the helicopter forward. And now, the government wants to make the Taliban legitamet. The United States military continually works to improve protection for transport helicopters and their occupants, according to Glover and Brady. A body went into the ocean, but Ill bet it wasnt Bin Ladens. American, French and Afghan National Police forces carried out a three-day sweep of the area, and the area was then deemed secure. Cart. Lee heard the call, and he knew what it meant. Humm, to have all the Seal Team 6 members in one place at one time?? In April 2011, American forces turned over control of Combat Outpost Tangi to Afghan government forces. 3 U.S. Army Reserve personnel from the 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment. Petty Officer 1st Class Aaron Vaughn was one of the SEAL Team 6 operators who died in the crash. Extortion 17 and 16 weren't MH-47s and their crews were not Night Stalkers. Extortion 17 could be a bigger scandal and betrayal of Americans than Benghazi. Get the latest in military news, entertainment and gear in your inbox daily. One of the best crews in my company. Editor's Note: On August 6, 2021, 30 American military servicemen and a U.S. military dog were killed when a CH-47 Chinook helicopter - call sign Extortion 17 - was shot down in Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment(General Support Aviation Battalion), New Century, Kansas, Staff Sgt. On August 6, 2011, the final flight of Extortion 17 resulted in the single deadliest incident for the US military during the War in Afghanistan. [11], By 16:25, all of the remains were taken from the crash site via ground convoy and transported to Combat Outpost Sayyid Abad. Available for both RF and RM licensing. 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. The crash occurred in Tangi Joi Zareen, in the district of Sayd Abad in Wardak Province after it was struck by an. There are no survivors. The article stated that the helicopter crashed after an RPG round impacted the aft rotor assembly. The sheer amount of experience with our pilots, flight engineers and back-seaters and mechanics offered a wealth of knowledge, he said. Intelligence had revealed Tahir to be the senior Taliban chief of the Tangi Valley region, with probable ties to upper-echelon Taliban leadership in Pakistan. So many unsettling details are coalescing with the resurgence of Extortion 17. [41] At the subsequent hearing in February 2014, Pentagon representative Garry Reid defended the decision to undertake the mission and denied that the Taliban had any advance knowledge of it. The IRF also included two SEALs from another team, five Navy special operations support personnel, three Air Force special tactics airmen, seven Afghan National Army commandos, a translator, and a combat assault dog. Immediately after Ryan shared an intimate photo of his own, the cybercriminal demanded $5,000, threatening to make the photo public and send it to Ryan's family and friends. But we are still sending people to another country to fight, and we need to understand why were doing that, he said. It was the deadliest helicopter crash in the history of U.S. special operations. The 30 American Servicemen killed in action (KIA) with the downing of Extortion 17. Create an account. Ranger assault helicopters had already engaged the enemy and killed six of eight Taliban fighters, causing the other two to retreat. He was too busy. Two investigations of the incident proved inconclusive. The crash claimed the lives of 38 personnel, including 22 special operations forces in Afghanistan Aug. 6, 2011. Thirty Americans perished in the blink of an eye, half of which comprised an entire 'troop' from SEAL Team 6's Gold Squadron. He said that insurgents had assumed a strong tactical position without knowledge of the helicopter's flight path. "[30], On 12 August 2011, Jim Lehrer of the PBS NewsHour announced that he would report the Honor Roll at the end of the program with names and photographs of all 30 men. While Benghazi resulted in four American deaths, Extortion 17 resulted in 38 deaths, including nearly two dozen Navy SEALs. The group fired 2-3 RPG rounds from a two-story building from a location some 220 meters south of the helicopter. Lieutenant Commander (SEAL) Jonas B. Kelsall, 32, of Shreveport, Louisiana, Special Warfare Operator Master Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Louis J. Langlais, 44, of Santa Barbara, California, Special Warfare Operator Senior Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Thomas A. Ratzlaff, 34, of Green Forest, Arkansas, Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician Senior Chief Petty Officer (Expeditionary Warfare Specialist/Freefall Parachutist) Kraig M. Vickers 36, of Kokomo, Hawaii, Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Brian R. Bill, 31, of Stamford, Connecticut, Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) John W. Faas, 31, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Kevin A. Houston, 35, of West Hyannisport, Massachusetts, Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Matthew D. Mason, 37, of Kansas City, Missouri, Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Stephen M. Mills, 35, of Fort Worth, Texas, Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician Chief Petty Officer(Expeditionary Warfare Specialist/Freefall Parachutist/Diver) Nicholas H. Null, 30, of Washington, West Virginia, Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Robert J. Reeves, 32, of Shreveport, Louisiana, Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Heath M. Robinson, 34, of Detroit, Michigan, Special Warfare Operator Petty Officer 1st Class (SEAL) Darrik C. Benson, 28, of Angwin, California, Special Warfare Operator Petty Officer 1st Class (SEAL/Parachutist) Christopher G. Campbell, 36, of Jacksonville, North Carolina, Information Systems Technician Petty Officer 1st Class (Expeditionary Warfare Specialist/Freefall Parachutist) Jared W. Day, 28, of Taylorsville, Utah, Master-at-Arms Petty Officer 1st Class (Expeditionary Warfare Specialist) John Douangdara, 26, of South Sioux City, Nebraska, Cryptologist Technician(Collection)Petty Officer 1st Class(Expeditionary Warfare Specialist) Michael J.