• The Final Mission of Extortion 17

  • Special Ops, Helicopter Support, SEAL Team Six, and the Deadliest Day of the US War in Afghanistan
  • By: Ed Darack
  • Narrated by: John Pruden
  • Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (763 ratings)

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The Final Mission of Extortion 17  By  cover art

The Final Mission of Extortion 17

By: Ed Darack
Narrated by: John Pruden
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Publisher's summary

On August 6, 2011, a US Army CH-47D Chinook helicopter approached a landing zone in Afghanistan 40 miles southwest of Kabul. The helicopter, call sign Extortion 17, was on a mission to reinforce American and coalition special operations troops. It would never return. Insurgents fired at the Chinook, severed one of its rear rotor blades, and brought it crashing to the ground. All 38 onboard perished instantly in the single greatest moment of sacrifice for Americans in the war in Afghanistan.

Those killed were some of the United States' most highly trained and battle-honed commandos, including 15 men from the Gold Squadron of the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, known popularly as SEAL Team 6, which had raided a Pakistan compound and killed Osama bin Laden just three months earlier.

The downing of Extortion 17 spurred a number of conspiracy theories, such as the idea that the shootdown was revenge for bin Laden's death. In The Final Mission of Extortion 17, Ed Darack debunks this theory and others and uncovers the truth behind this mysterious tragedy. His account of the brave pilots, crew, and passengers of Extortion 17 and the events of that fateful day is interwoven into a rich, complex narrative that also discusses modern joint combat operations, the history of the Afghan war to that date, US helicopter use in Afghanistan, and the new and evolving military technologies and tactics being developed to mitigate such tragedies now and in the future.

©2017 Ed Darack (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

What listeners say about The Final Mission of Extortion 17

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

What the "Lone Survivor" wasn't.

This was a factual, fairly straightforward factual retelling of events without much flag waving or expression of political views. Even the few bits of flag waving just came about organically because of the backgrounds given for those involved.

I have only two real complaints about the book. Firstly there are a lot of unit designations and the author sometimes fires them off in quick order and thus muddying the narrative. This also happens with individuals. Sometimes the author refers to them by first name, full name or last name. This might be clearer in the text version but the audio version I was left wondering who was actually who and to what unit they belonged and how they related to the story.

The second complaint is with the structure of the book. The author will skip forward and backward in time, detailing historical events that happened well before the incident that led to the book. While interesting and (possibly relevant) these time hopes broke the flow of the narrative for me and I had to stop and try and match up the various timeline strands so that I could keep track of where in time the author was speaking about.

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64 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Much more technical

A good story but much more technical with helicopters than I thought it would be.

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32 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing

This is a must read. What I really liked about his book is the description of how our military went after the men who shot down Extortion 17. Within days they were dead. Doesn't pay to mess with the US Military.

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23 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Honest Look at an American Tragedy.

The author puts a human face to the heroes of Army Aviation and the Troops they support and defend. The DEVGUR Operators hold the men and women who support their missions in the highest regards. They are there transportation, anchor, and lifeline if need when the chips are down and others run from the call. The great people who serve and defend our country are our best and brightest.

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20 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic

As a former US Army Aviator I really appreciate the "behind the scenes" details included in this book. Took me back to the days of flying and supporting the ground guys. Fantastic story.

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

A Good "Feel Better" Book

A well written "feel better" book. The last chapter made the purchase worth while! I wish I could believe everything in this book. I have unfortunately seen and heard too much to hook line and sinker everything. E17 was one of the most horrible and tragic losses of American lives ever!! Nothing written or done will make living with it any easier.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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great story with great tragedy

wonderful story telling of these brave men and their sacrifice for us. So many tragedies in 1 moment. thank you for your service and sacrifice to all the men and women of our military. you will never be forgotten.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Great piece of literary work

SoB, Ed, the last 2 minutes are literally kick-in-the-gut-soul-wrenching closure. RIP Extortion 17 & the Crew!

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Fanciful account

I was truly disappointed with this account. To put this tradgety in perspective let's think of a football stadium full of military personnel. Where we create a competition to find the most talented couple dozen. Take those few and spend several million training and perfecting their skills. Let them leave their families and prove themselves in combat for several years. Then take these few elite men and put them in a big hulking helicopter and try to insert them into a small vulnerable area in a confirmed hot zone. This in order to chase a few unknown runners. If this were a movie you'd immediately suspect a set up. We'll never know?? I'll trust the pilots were component. We know the Seals and those assigned to seal teams and the PJ's were the best of the best. And now they're gone!! This mission was at best Ill concieved at worst a set up. I'm not a conspiracy theorist but the facts don't look good. "black box washed away" sure.. This book falls short of convincing me of anything. I'd like to of heard about Jason Workman and the other seals an PJ's. They were the most fascinating, interesting part of this tragic episode and they're barely mentioned. Obama put these men in the cross hairs for political expediency. The others who planned this mission, needed to be held responsible. The author didn't do justice to the story.. There's not even a hint of the glaring problems in this milk toast account. For more info in 1/1000 the time of this book, I'd recommend reading
https://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/20/families-suspect-seal-team-6-crash-was-inside-job-/

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5 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great Book Which Met Its Objectives

This book had two key objectives: 1) to honor those who perished in the downing of Extortion 17 and 2) dispel the conspiracy theories that indicated the downing of Extortion 17 was intentional. With all the detail and energy of a Tom Clancy novel, this book met its objectives. I highly recommend this book to any who want to know what really happened.

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2 people found this helpful