Ed Darack

The Final Mission of Extortion 17 Ed Darack

In the pitch-black early morning hours of August 6, 2011, a United States Army CH-47D Chinook helicopter, call sign “Extortion 17,†sped alone into eastern Afghanistans deadly Tangi Valley. Carrying an elite force of American warfighters, including members the vaunted SEAL Team 6, Extortion 17 would never return to its base. Shot out of the sky by a rocket propelled grenade, everyone onboard died instantly, the single greatest loss of life in the history of the Navy SEALs, United States Special Operations, and the entire war in Afghanistan. What went so terribly wrong to cause this shocking tragedy? What is the true, full story? The complete story of Extortion 17 has never been told, until now. With the globally lionized success of the bin Laden raid just three months earlier by members of SEAL Team 6, speculation ran rampant in media outlets throughout the world, with misguided, incomplete, and often blatantly inaccurate reporting. A number of official reports, magazine articles, and books attempted to reveal the full story, but none came close. Independent author Ed Darack, with his reputation throughout the military for accuracy, was given unprecedented access to those intimate to the full story; none of his sources have ever been contacted before (nor since) by anyone in the media or conducting official reports. The Final Flight of Extortion 17 provides the full story of the men, the circumstances, the reason for the downing of Extortion 17, and the detailed account of the dramatic deadly final moments of the Chinook, followed by the swift response to those who caused the tragedy, as well as the enduring legacies of those lost, told by those closest to them.