The Final Mission of Extortion 17

July 31, 2017
Darack (Victory Point), a military writer and photographer who has embedded with units in Iraq and Afghanistan, shares a well-researched story of the downing of a U.S. Army CH-47D Chinook helicopter, call sign Extortion 17, carrying members of SEAL Team Six in Afghanistan on Aug. 6, 2011. Where previous works on this subject have largely highlighted the operators of SEAL Team Six, Darack focuses his take on the incident—it is the largest single American loss of life in the Afghanistan War, with all 38 on board killed—on the five crew members of the helicopter. As a result, this work is valuable and informative as it describes the critical role Army Aviation played in Iraq and Afghanistan and makes clear the difficulties of flying in the high altitudes of Afghanistan’s mountain ranges. Threats faced by Army Aviation in Iraq and Afghanistan include enemy action (44 helicopters have been shot down in Iraq and Afghanistan with the loss of more than 120 lives), mechanical failure, and shifting weather conditions. Short, clear, and tersely written, Darack’s book is suited to readers interested in military affairs and is a fitting tribute to the Army aviators represented by the crew of Extortion 17. Maps & illus.

September 1, 2017
Darack tells the life stories of the 38 men flying under the call sign, Extortion 17, who were killed on August 6, 2011, when their Chinook helicopter was shot down over Afghanistan. Military argot permeates Darack's account, giving his readers a sense of the high degree of training necessary for personnel to conduct the kind of operation on which Extortion 17 was embarked. It was to be a night-time landing of a special operations force to capture or kill a Taliban leader. Explaining the intricate aerial ballet that supports such an action (which includes gunships, surveillance planes, and bomb-laden fighter jets), Darack underscores the high-tech American way of making war versus the low-tech yet effective efforts of the Taliban: it was a rocket-propelled grenade that downed Extortion 17. Dramatizing the incident, based on real-time recordings from the orbiting support planes, Darack delivers a respectful salute to the dead amid detailed exemplification of the bravery of those fighting America's protracted war in Afghanistan.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)