"We have an ideology problem with this war, and we need to address it. Today, some family members are not just disappointed in the investigation and the FOIA process, but also in how the House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee on national security conducted a brief hearing in Feb. 2014. Darack did extensive research of what happened next. There are more sophisticated threats out there, such as the SA-16. A CH-47D Chinook helicopter (the same model as Extortion 17) speeds through the Sierra Nevada Mountains at the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center, near Bridgeport, California, during mountain warfare training exercises. 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. Somebody tipped them off. 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. Hes also sent more than his fair share of curious retweets, often of the accounts of conspiracy theorists and those associated with QAnon and other outlandish conspiracy frameworks. The military's public contradictions raise more questions than answers. It means being informed. The ensuing crash killed all 16 on board, eight Army special operations aviators, and eight Navy SEALs. The families of some of the 17 SEAL Team 6 commandos who were killed in an ambush in Afghanistan during a helicopter flight to help Army Rangers pinned down by Taliban gunmen accused the Obama administration of deliberately endangering their loved ones for political ends. "The downing of Extortion 17 was a catastrophic and unprecedented tragedy for our nation," Reid testified. Rowan Scarborough can be reached at rscarborough@washingtontimes.com. That June, the U.S. military launched Operation Hammer Down to drive out insurgents entrenched in remote strongholds of eastern Afghanistan. But the CH-47D has neither a flight nor voice recorder, only an engine performance data. 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. The second RPG round had connected with one of Extortion 17's aft rotor blades, severing more than 10 feet of it when it exploded. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. Photo: AP, Thousands of passengers are stranded after Colombias Viva Air grounds flights, The last of Mexicos artisanal salt-makers preserve a 2,000-year-old tradition, I cannot give up: Cambodian rapper says he will sing about injustice despite threats from govt, Ukrainian rock star reflects on a year of war in his country, Ukrainian refugees in Poland will now be charged to stay in state-funded housing, This Colombian town is dimming its lights to attract more tourists to view the night sky, Kneel and apologize!: 76 years after island-wide massacre, Taiwan continues to commemorate and debate the tragedy. "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. By The Newsroom 6th Aug 2011, 6:30pm His 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. The alleged hit on SEAL Team 6 is a reference to the downing of a Chinook transport helicopter by insurgents a few months after the bin Laden raid. Ten computer hard drives, five computers and more than 100 storage devices were retrieved. Nothing tests the capabilities of a young helicopter pilot like flying in the extreme conditions of Afghanistan. The Justice Department said at least 50 documents in the Pentagon have been identified as relevant, but only one has been turned over. U.S. 4:05 p.m. - The first helicopter exits the compound. The families of these deceased heroes have been stonewalled by the Obama Department of Defense and the Obama National Security Agency in disrespect over their sons unexplained tragic deaths. 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. But why? Lees second deployment started in May of 2011. What went so terribly wrong? The Taliban shot at the Chinooks all the time with RPGs and rifles, Darack said. A typical combat mission in Afghanistan leaves little margin for error, requiring Chinook pilots to land on tiny, makeshift sites on mountain slopes where any tree, bush or rock could be hiding an enemy fighter with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. On such missions, the Chinook pilots nearly always fly at night, wearing night vision goggles, or NVGs. An Afghan official, speaking anonymously a few days after the attack, speculated that the Taliban had laid a trap, that they had purposely put out false information about a meeting involving the Taliban commander. No family members were allowed to testify. They loaded onto Extortion 17, and then Carter and Nichols lifted the Chinook into the night sky. Aug. 7, 2011 -- American communities are mourning the loss of 30 U.S. troops who were killed when Afghan insurgents shot down a helicopter carrying the most elite forces in the US military -- Navy . ", 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.". Navy SEAL Team Six, the heroic unit that killed Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan in May 2011, is in grave danger due to the reckless actions of the Obama administration. 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. That left it to .css-3wjtm9{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.125rem;text-decoration-color:#1c6a65;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:inherit;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-3wjtm9:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;}Navy SEALs to undertake a dangerous raid in a notorious insurgent area to stem the Taliban's advance. He pushed hard on the cyclic stick to tilt the helicopter forward. The Chinook was descending on a noisy battlefield where Apache helicopters and a C-130 gunship had been buzzing overhead for three hours, alerting Taliban fighters. The Chinook headed to a different landing zone than the first assault team -- one in the narrowest part of the Tangi Valley. JSOC ground forces and those who flew them knew and trusted each other. "He said, 'Mom, there's chatter. Nobody tipped off the fightersnor could anyone have alerted them. It alleges thatthe 2011 raid that killed Osama Bin Laden, which took place when Biden was vice president, did not actually kill the al-Qaeda leader, but rather a body double, and that Iran had been part of the conspiracy as well. Retired Army Lt. Gen. William Boykin, who served as deputy undersecretary of defense for Intelligence and was a commander in the Army's super-secret "Delta Force," denounced politicized rules of engagement as a "deliberate plot" within the American armed forces that he says puts political correctness above the safety of the troops. Its crazy how many times I can think of where me or the guys I was with had to do that.. Ultimately, bin Laden was found and killed within nine minutes, and SEAL Team Six was credited with carrying out a nearly flawless mission. .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. "We will draw inspiration from their lives, and continue the work of securing our country and standing up for the values that they embodied.". 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. Lee and his friend Bryan Nichols flew their Chinook into battle several timesthe first night, dropping off troops at a landing zone (LZ) almost 10,000 feet above sea level. In 2006, he was called into Afghanistan, where he turned 25. The quick reaction force included SEAL Team 6 and other special operations personnel. The SEALS intentionally . A man reads the front page of a newspaper featuring the news that al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was shot dead deep inside Pakistan in a night-time helicopter raid by US covert forces, ending a decade-long manhunt for the mastermind of the September 11 attacks. And thats fine; thats what you signed up for, Lee said. The US Navy's elite SEAL Team 6 reportedly recovered two bodies and a flight recorder from the site where a US Air Force E-11A aircraft crashed in Afghanistan on Monday. The crash took the lives of 17 SEALs and five special warfare development group operators, making it the worst one-day loss in the history of U.S. naval special operations. "No amount of training, skill, or technology will ever defeat chance on the battlefield. He taught helicopter pilots how to fly in high altitudes at an aviation training site in Colorado. But Tahir and a group of his fighters escaped. Lee heard the call, and he knew what it meant. Everyone on board died within a fraction of a second30 Americans, eight Afghans and one American military working dog. President Obama offered his thoughts and prayers to those killed in the crash. Extortion 17 then plummeted to the ground and erupted in a massive fireball. The loss of a Chinook helicopter carrying members of Navy SEAL Team Six made yesterday the deadliest single day in the entire Afghan War for the U.S., The New York Times reports. One of the things I vowed, I will never forget. An initial investigation indicates the helicopter was shot down by insurgents in the volatile Tangi valley of Wardak province, several hours south of Kabul. 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. Still, SEAL Team Sixs bold raid to take down bin Laden was an extraordinary operation that most experts regard as a resounding success. This time, they might simply have run out of luck and encountered an RPG-armed enemy who was in the right place at the right time. Throughout, he said, Justice lawyers have refused to take his phone calls. In the immediate wake of the tragedy, the military initiated two investigations. They were part of the same Army Reserve unit, 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment based in Gardner, Kan. Nichols, with three combat tours of duty, also had plenty of experience flying dangerous missions. 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. The former vice president has become the Democratic front-runner with primary victories across the country. On a moonless night, an Army helicopter carrying 17 members of the elite Navy SEAL Team 6, the unit that killed Osama Bin Laden, is shot down in Afghanistan. They were part of his command. Nearby, there were two enemy fighters with rocket-propelled grenade launchers. The Graveyard of Empires: Directed by David Boreanaz. Click here for reprint permission. Special Forces are expected to keep the pressure on the Taliban, working closely with Afghan forces to maintain control as U.S and Coalition troops depart. Its like taking a paper towel roll, cutting it in half and strapping it to your eye, Lee said. These helicopters have been well protected from long-range missile attacks for years, but still have few defenses against a simple RPG fired at short range while the Chinook hovers in place. 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. However, the AP has reported, the Afghan forces never staffed the outpost after American forces left, and the Taliban moved back in. In interviewing Buddy for background research for my book, The Final Mission of Extortion 17, which chronicles the people, events, and circumstances of the downing of Extortion 17, I realized that this tragedy illustrates Buddy's words more convincingly perhaps than any other incident. File: A US Army CH-47D Chinook helicopter in flight. One of the engines flew off, and the other caught fire. 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. Some Arab countries and leaders condemned the actions of the United States. EXPLOSIVE: CIA Whistleblower Exposes Bidens Alleged Role With the Deaths of Seal Team- Claims to have Documented Proof. RETWEET!, The president went on to follow that last command, although the Oscar the Midnight Rider account has since been suspended by Twitter. SEAL TEAM SIX - Extortion 17 EXPOSED theunitedwest 15.8K subscribers Subscribe 4.7K 394K views Streamed 9 years ago AUGUST 6, 2015 - Today, on the fourth anniversary of the shoot down of. For Lee, there was no time to reflect on how close he had come to dying. The SEAL Team 6 community was devastated. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 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. 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 helicopter was shot down by insurgents. The Taliban, of course, has taken credit, saying it shot down the helo during a special forces raid on a home. September-11-pentagon-attack-survivors-evacuation. PRX is a 501(c)(3) organization recognized by the IRS: #263347402. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. Gear-obsessed editors choose every product we review. Lees wife, Christy, hoped the news would bring a sudden end to the war. Winds whipped through the fir trees. The night her son Aaron died, he was in a helicopter that was built in the 1960s and last retrofitted in 1985. "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. 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." 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). It was the worst day for fatalities in the history of naval special warfare. Stay informed daily on the latest news and advice on COVID-19 from the editors at U.S. News & World Report. How SEAL Team 6 . More than 20 Navy Seals died in the helicopter crash that killed 31 in Afghanistan yesterday. But no one died. Flying low, the pilots have to maneuver a machine weighing up to 50,000 pounds over mountains, under cover of darkness, in swirling wind and dust, wearing night vision goggles. Many of these family members are undergoing psychological care over what has become a double tragedy: the deaths of their sons and the cover-up for which these family members feel betrayed by their own government.. Some of those Seals were members of Seal Team 6 that took part in the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden, the AP reported today; although they were not actual participants in the Pakistan raid, according to the New York Times. Around 2:40 a.m., an Apache pilot flying in support came on the radio and shouted: Fallen Angel. 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. See production, box office & company info, Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words. As they made their approach, there was a line of thunderstorms nearby. because seals have a habit of writing books once they retire. One source says the team was thought to include 22 SEALs, three Air Force air controllers, seven Afghan Army troops, a dog and handler, and a civilian interpreter, plus the helicopter crew. 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. As more responsibilities fall on the shoulders of special forces, the risk of more losses like this one will continue to increase. There's always the chance that Iran, which has them, or Pakistan, which conceivably could have bought some on the black market, supplied them to the Taliban. Not all U.S. presidents are missed once they leave the White House. Olson himself a former Team 6 leader recalled at his change of command ceremony the men who lost their lives in Saturday's helicopter crash in Afghanistan. During a press conference on Washington Thursday, family and advocates for the fallen troops called into question the rules of engagement that they say prohibited their sons from being able to return fire, and the White House's decision to announce shortly after the killing of Osama bin Laden that SEAL Team 6 was responsible for the raid. I thought I hit a tree,he said. Mr. Klayman said the NSA has agreed to provide some information. In all, 38 people died that night after the chopper was shot down by a Taliban-owned rocket-propelled grenade or RPG over the Wardak Province on Aug. 6, 2011. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! "It's something that a lot of people who have never been in combat have a hard time understanding," he said. "Sometimes the enemy just gets that terribly lucky shot. The Chinook had no Apache escort, as did the Ranger team that enjoyed the element of surprise when it touched down hours earlier. Fallen Angel.. To minimize the danger as much as possible, pilots will land Chinooks out of range of any weapons they know they enemy to have, and an Apache or a UAV will fly overhead to check for threats before the Chinooks drop off any soldiers. KABUL, Afghanistan -- A helicopter crash in Afghanistan's eastern Wardak province has killed 30 U.S. special operation troops and seven Afghan soldiers, the country's president said on. She also said the team was hindered by rules of engagement that prohibited their firing on potential targets unless they could see a weapon. There are no survivors. See GlobalPost: Navy SEALs had "kill" order on Osama bin Laden, report claims. David Tarrant. Coincidence or not, any Chinook shoot-down is a coup for the Taliban. Hes also sent more than his fair share of curious retweets, often of the accounts of conspiracy theorists and those associated with QAnon and other outlandish conspiracy frameworks. Things like Benghazi and the NSA. 2023 A&E Television Networks, LLC. You never want to use the same landing zone twice, Darack said. This is all, needless to say, completely unsubstantiated if not outright false. The second probe, led by Army Brigadier General Jeffrey Colt, explained in excruciating detail what all those familiar with military operations and helicopter aviation in Afghanistan already knew: chance and chance alone, took down Extortion 17. And they sent our guys right into the middle.. Charles Strange, whose son Michael, 25, died in the attack said Obama personally promised him a thorough investigation of what happened but has failed to deliver. However, a shoot down does not necessarily mean insurgents have changed their tactics or hardware. The missions commanders decided to insert another team to go after Tahir while the Rangers held the compound. They fail to mention it was Saudis who orchestrated 9/11, yet he elected to go after Iraq and Afghanistan. Almost 10 years after 9/11, here's what led to the death of Osama bin Laden. The pilots ranked among the most proficient in this type of flying and the Department of Defense. "We've allowed politics to become more important than the lives and safety of those men and women," he says. The families accept the fact that a single shot brought down the helicopter. The Obama administration is violating a judges order to turn over documents in the Aug. 6, 2011, shootdown of a U.S. helicopter call sign Extortion 17 that killed members of SEAL Team 6 in Afghanistan, a watchdog group is charging. If this [operation] was survivable, that was the right crew to have. Stephen M. Mills, 35, of Fort Worth, Tex., was reportedly the leader of the Navy SEAL team killed in the Chinook helicopter attack on Aug. 6. AP sources: Crash kills members of SEAL Team 6. The navigator on the AC-130 gunship said there was simply too much gun and engine noise to think that the Chinook could make an undetected entrance. Copyright 2023 The Washington Times, LLC. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! The team was responding to an Army Ranger unit that was engaged in a protracted firefight with Taliban fighters and needed reinforcements. No one saw two Taliban armed with grenade launchers standing on a mud-brick turret well within range of the descending chopper. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. When they arrived at the compound, however, the strike force couldn't locate Tahir, and some of his fighters dispersed. The families of some of the 17 SEAL Team 6 commandos who were killed in an ambush in Afghanistan during a helicopter flight to help Army Rangers pinned down by Taliban gunmen accused the. U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity because families of those killed are still being notified. By clicking submit, you are agreeing to our Terms and Conditions & Privacy Policy. "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," Obama said in a statement. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, Originally published August 6, 2011 at 10:50 am Updated August 6, 2011 at 3:16 pm. SEAL TEAM SIX - EXTORTION 17 COVER UP theunitedwest 15.8K subscribers Subscribe 683 53K views Streamed 7 years ago WOW, watch author Don Brown blow the lid off of the official government report. Extortion 17's pilots and crew ranked among the very best military helicopter pilots in the world (Carter had amassed more than 4,000 hours of cockpit time), and the helicopter, a CH-47D, the fastest and one of the most powerful and nimble in the U.S. military, had been maintained to the highest standards. The Pentagon on Thursday identified the Americans as 17 members of the elite Navy SEALs, five Naval Special Warfare personnel who support the SEALs, three Air Force Special Operations personnel and. They are also pretty tough; the only comparable loss to this one was a Chinook shot down in 2005. Aaron Vaughn's mother, Karen, also demanded an explanation for why her son and his team were not using a special operations aircraft, such as the Chinooks flown by special operations pilots, which have specialized defenses designed to fly commandos deep behind enemy lines. By what name was Fallen Angel: Call Sign - Extortion 17 (2021) officially released in Canada in English? He has written about soldiers returning home from war and the mental health crisis facing young people. the seal team 6 crash is just tying up loose ends for their crimes. With Robert O'Neill, Patricia Economo, Enrique Garcia, James Obrien. We also mourn the Afghans who died alongside our troops in pursuit of a more peaceful and hopeful future for their country. An official report was released in October 2011 but family members say it did little to fill in the details and left more questions than answers. 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. Up to 30 Dead in Afghanistan Following Failed Prison Heist, Total Iraq and Afghanistan Pricetag: Over $4 Trillion. The U.S. Army knows the risks when it plans air assault operations in Afghanistan. His father Billy Vaughn recounted Thursday a phone call from his son following the White House decision to credit the highly secretive military unit for the bin Laden raid. Somebody was leaking to the Taliban, said Mr. Furthermore, according to the lore, due to the alleged Iran angle, the Iran nuclear agreement in 2015 was in fact a payoff to Iran for whatever role they played in the earlier conspiracy. These materials provided much-needed intelligence about bin Ladens role within al-Qaeda and the organizations inner-workings. Although the Taliban have claimed to have shot the helicopter down, U.S. officials have only identified the attackers as insurgents. A Marine speaks into a radio and troops unload a CH-47D Chinook in Afghanistan's Kunar Province. One of the other things that we did talk about kind of what youre hitting on, sir, is about the fact that, you know, for three hours we had been burning holes in the sky, the officer told investigators. Onboard were 17 members of SEAL Team 6; five naval special warfare operators, including one to intercept communications and another to handle Bart the war dog; five Army flight crewmen, including a National Guard and an Army Reserve pilot; and three Air Force personnel. So, to do an infil on the X or Y, you know, having that element of surprise in the beginning of an operation is good, but by the time weve been there for three hours, and the partys up, bringing in another aircraft like that, you know, may not be the most tactically sound decision.. SEAL Team Six was assigned three pre-invasion missions: two clandestine political missions relating to regime change on the island, and reconnaissance from the sea of the new airfield under construction on the island's southwest coast. The helicopter plunged tail first. The incident comes just months after DevGru's raid that killed Osama bin Laden. Information about the incident is still trickling in, but these are a few of the most important questions in the immediate aftermath. The two Apaches, Gun 1 and Gun 2, on scene were never emphatically told to move near the landing zone to scan for threats. Justin Buddy Lee will never forget that night six years ago. A catastrophic crash seemed unavoidable. Still, the one the president retweeted earlier this week may have been the weirdest yet. Does Donald Trump believe that Joe Biden played a part in murdering those Navy Seals? Lee is 36 now, a civil attorney in Dallas, a world away from Afghanistan. A silhouette of a. As reported on by The Daily Beast, Trump retweeted a message posted by an account called Oscar the Midnight Rider 1111, which alleges that Hiden Biden and Obama may have had Seal team 6 killed! By the time the third sped away from its launcher, however, no target remained. Sign up for The Top of the World, delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. Just after entering the Tangi, as Extortion 17 continued to descend and decelerate toward its landing zone, the helicopter passed through the narrowest portion of the valley. Several Afghans were on board and were killed, but trust is in short supply in Afghanistan. Strange also blamed top military brass for sending the troops into a situation they were allegedly ill-equipped and unprepared to handle. I had to learn how to land while browned-out, wearing NVGs, on the side of a mountain or an uneven field, Lee said. 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. A junior, he was ready to fight, but the war would be over, he figured, before he even got out of college. For now, let's assume the Chinook was shot down, and by a rocket. Get the latest breaking news from North Texas and beyond. they won't view it as wrong, just a "necessary" sacrifice for your country. A collection of moments during and after Barack Obama's presidency.