Episode Details

August 6th, 2011. Wardak Province, Afghanistan. 15 SEAL Team 6 operators and 23 allied personnel traveled on board a helicopter with call sign “Extortion 17”. Tragically, the aircraft was struck by a Taliban-fired rocket-propelled grenade and crashed. Moments later, an urgent rescue mission was launched. HBH is honored to welcome the man who led that mission: author and retired US Army Ranger Sergeant First Class Nicholas Moore.

Every mission and movement of SEAL Team 6, the Navy’s most elite special forces unit, is classified. However, when Extortion 17 went down, all available personnel were alerted to their position.

Nicholas and his team rushed to the location, contending with potential improvised explosive devices along the way. They hoped to help survivors among the 38 passengers of the twin-rotor Boeing CH-47 ’Chinook’ helicopter, including a service dog and its handler.

The crash of Extortion 17 was the largest single loss of life in the history of both SEAL Team 6 and the Afghan War.

We highly recommend Nicholas Moore’s book, ‘Run to the Sound of the Guns: The True Story of an American Ranger at War in Afghanistan and Iraq’.