Two Years Ago
On 6 August 2011, thirty American military personnel and eight Afghan personnel lost their lives in Afghanistan during a night mission. In addition, one US military working dog was killed.
This was worst single incident during the War in Afghanistan from the perspective of US casualties. It is also the single worst loss of life in the history of the US Special Operations Command.
The incident occurred in the Tangi Joy Zarin area of Wardak province, Afghanistan, about 60 miles southwest of Kabul.
The mission at hand was to reinforce a group of embattled US Army Rangers attempting to kill or capture a senior Taliban commander. Transportation into the operational area was via Army aviation. The aircraft involved – a US Army CH-47 – is believed to have been downed while the it was taking off after landing in the operational area. It is believed that the aircraft was struck by an RPG round striking the aft rotor assembly while it was still at a relatively low altitude.
All on board the aircraft – callsign Extortion 17 – perished.
US personnel killed in action during the incident were:
US Army (aircrew for the CH-47)
SGT Alexander J. Bennett, 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment
SPC Spencer Duncan, 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment
CWO Bryan J. Nichols, 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment
CWO David R. Carter, 2nd Battalion, 135th Aviation Regiment
SSG Patrick D. Hamburger, 2nd Battalion, 135th Aviation Regiment
US Navy
PO1 (SEAL) Darrick C. Benson, NSWC
CPO (SEAL) Brian R. Bill, NSWC
PO1 (SEAL) Christopher G. Campbell, NSWC
CPO (SEAL) John W. Faas, NSWC
CPO (SEAL) Kevin A. Houston, NSWC
LCDR (SEAL) Jonas B. Kelsall, NSWC
MCPO (SEAL) Louis J. Langlais, NSWC
CPO (SEAL) Matthew D. Mason, NSWC
CPO (SEAL) Stephen M. Mills, NSWC
PO1 (SEAL) Jesse D. Pittman, NSWC
SCPO (SEAL) Thomas A. Ratzlaff, NSWC
CPO (SEAL) Robert J. Reeves, NSWC
CPO (SEAL) Heath M. Robinson, NSWC
PO2 (SEAL) Nicholas P. Spehar, NSWC
PO1 (SEAL) Jon T. Tumilson, NSWC
PO1 (SEAL) Aaron C. Vaughn, NSWC
PO1 (SEAL) Jason R. Workman, NSWC
PO1 Jared W. Day, NSWC (IS Technician)
PO1 John Douangdara, NSWC (Military Working Dog Handler)
CPO Nicholas H. Null, NSWC (EOD Technician)
PO1 Michael J. Strange, NSWC (Cryptologist Technician)
SCPO Kraig M. Vickers, NSWC (EOD Technician)
Bart (military working dog)
US Air Force
TSgt John W. Brown, 24th Special Tactics Squadron (Pararescue)
SSgt Andrew W. Harvell, 24th Special Tactics Squadron (Combat Controller)
TSgt Daniel L. Zerbe, 24th Special Tactics Squadron (Pararescue)
Regrettably, the names of the 7 Afghan commandos and the Afghan interpreter who were also lost in the incident are not readily available.
Rest in peace, my brothers-in-arms. May God continue to comfort your friends an families.
Hat tip to MCPO NYC USN (Ret.) for the reminder regarding today’s significance. Such sacrifice should never be overlooked or forgotten.
Category: Terror War
Thank you, men.
Rest well.
You will never be forgotten.
Someone send this to Phildo.
Someone print it out and make Phildo eat it, without ketchup, after repeating those names 50 times over a loud speaker in a public gathering place.
Thanks for reminding us, Hondo.
@3.
I was thinking more along the lines of shoving it down his fucking throat. Then taking my 10 1/2 W and making sure it gets all the way down.
You here that, Phildo. And maybe having that dishonorable AF COL watch.
You fucking shitbag, coward, phone call avoiding sack of shit.
Sorry. Just pissed.
Don’t thank me, Ex-PH2. Thank MCPO NYC for reminding me.
And if you can, tonight raise a glass in their honor – and toast their memory.
Green Thumb: calm down a bit, amigo. Phil will get what he deserves eventually.
“Karma can indeed be a vengeful beyoch.”
God bless these men and their families, and we honor them because they lived.
@5, Hondo, I will.
That’s 60 Christmases, 60-plus birthdays, 60-plus Halloweens, 60-plus Thanksgivings, all the holidays with their families, that they’ve missed.
I will try to live worthy of their sacrifice.
Thank you for your sacrifice .. just … thank you …
@6.
Your right.
Had to deal with the “Ivory Tower” today. They hate the military.
Sucks.
I apologize for my anger; spilled over.
Had a little Huckleberry ‘Shine to calm the nerves.
Chilling out.
The Air Crew was from a local unit. It was a rough loss for us around here.
“When good men die their goodness does not perish,
But lives though they are gone.”
-Euripides
“And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget
Falls drop by drop upon the heart,
And in our own despite, against our will,
Comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.”
-Aeschylus
Rest easy Louie. See you on the beach.
Raising a glass in their honor. Salute!
Rest in eternal peace.
I know the family of one of the seals lost that day. His
father is a Ret. Master Gunnery Sgt. The family thinks
their not being told the truth about what happened that
day. RIP
Thanks for posting … I knew 3 of the Navy men casually … they were the best of the best. A good friend of mine trained they guys … no better and capable crew.
Air crew, SEAL team members, EOD bubbas, and AF SPEC OPS guys … rest in peace!
Rest in Peace, Warriors.
I have heard from some of those conspiracy guys(one of which I am) that these men were sacrificed in order to appease certain Muslim elements with binladen’s death – especially since they were SEALs that were loaded up…
I know I am cake eating civilian, but the timing is a bit off to me that this was just coincidence…
James … that is pure bullshit and if you ever spent an honorable day in the military … you would spread BS like that here or anywhere else!
Go eat some more cake!
@19 The problem with conspiracies is that they’re just like religion. You can’t prove or disprove anything to anyone. However, I will ask you this: why appease anyone over Bin Laden’s death, when we didn’t have to kill him in the first place? Bear in mind that we didn’t just fall over Bin Laden in an area where we had combat operations; we had to go get him in a neighboring country. We didn’t have to do that. So?
BTW asshole … almost 10 percent of the ready DEVGRU Tier 1 guys were killed on that day. Go fuck yourself!
I know I am cake eating civilian
I think you have a misspelled word in there. It’s spelled C-O-C-K.
I think you guys misunderstand what I am trying to say.. either that or I am saying it wrong… my thought isnt that the military is trying to do appease anybody, but rather our civilian Leadership is trying to do that. Over and over again we see members of the military sacrificed to make people happy – just look at the ridiculous rules of engagement in place now in Afghanistan.
I am cake eater but watched my dad leave 6 6 month cruises on tin cans and aircraft carriers, so I know what it is like to have a loved one sent into harm’s way.
OK James … leave it at that …
Wow.
OK… obviously stepped in it. Please accept my apologies. I still speak/type without thinking but I will do better to not do that.
I am very sorry.
@ 27 James … no problem! Apology noted, recorded, and under review!
Carry on!
By way of explanation, James: some of the commenters here knew people on that mission. That’s why you walked into a bit of a buzz-saw.
We also do on occasion get trolls who say what you seemed to be saying above (that wasn’t your intent, but it was a possible interpretation of what you said) – but who are dead serious, or are doing it simply to provoke. Because of that, often an ambiguous comment can get misinterpreted.
We don’t generally suffer trolls who denigrate the military lightly here at TAH. Such tools get rather abused verbally.
A good recommendation is to try and read what you just wrote as if you were a complete fool before hitting submit – and see if you can misinterpret it yourself. If you can, someone else can too.
That’s saved me from “stepping in it” on occasion.