Extortion 17: CrossFit gyms honor fallen Navy SEALs

August 6th, 2011, 40 miles south of Kabul, Afghanistan. The Chinook helicopter callsigned Extortion 17 (“one-seven”) took off into the darkness and accelerated toward a destination less than 20 miles west. Extortion 17 carried 38 men, 15 of them SEALS from Gold Squadron of the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, popularly called SEAL Team 6. […]

How Spec Ops helicopters defeat heat-seeking missiles

The MH-47G Chinook helicopter fleet, one of the most important aviation assets of the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM), is getting a new countermeasure system aimed at improving its survivability on the battlefield. More specifically, the MH-47Gs are being outfitted with the AN/AAQ-24 LAIRCM. This enhancement is a Directional Infrared Counter Measures (DIRCM) system that […]

The one time 160th Special Operations Aviation flew during the day, and why

One of the hallmarks of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) – 160th SOAR(A) – AKA “The Night Stalkers,” is that they rarely fly during the day. One of the most secretive of all American special operations units, the 160th flies during daylight hours only in extreme circumstances. One of these times was during […]

The OBJECTIVE GINOSA strike – Payback for the shootdown of Extortion 17

One of the most gripping and interesting parts of writing “The Final Mission of Extortion 17” was the section about how American forces located, determined the identities, tracked, and then struck those responsible for the downing of Extortion 17. Reports stated only that the enemy fighters responsible fled toward Pakistan and were killed with a […]

Navy SEAL monument planned for Virginia Beach boardwalk

Per reporting in the Hampton Roads, Virginia-based newspaper The Virginian-Pilot—the local paper of record for covering the Navy’s East Coast-based SEAL teams—a new monument is in the works for Virginia Beach, Virginia, which will honor the Navy SEALs. Per the Pilot’s reporting, retired SEAL Captain Rick Woolard is spearheading the effort to erect a SEAL […]

Group founded and run by Navy SEALs helps the injured and families of the fallen.

August 6, 2011, was a black day for the Navy’s SEAL Teams, for the U.S. Special Operations Command writ large, and for the country as a whole.  On that day, a CH-47 Chinook helicopter — bearing the call sign “Extortion 17” — and carrying 17 SEALs, five Naval Special Warfare support personnel, three Air Force […]