Call Sign Extortion 17 Read Online Free PDF

time, is only manned by its aircrew. No SEALs are aboard. No Rangers are aboard. No ground forces are aboard. Aside from its aircrew, Extortion 16 is empty.
    At 0222 a.m., local time, Extortion 17 lifted off for the last time, carrying the thirty Americans aboard to their eternal destiny.
    From the time they lifted off, until they time they were shot down at 0239 a.m., seventeen minutes later, their flight was marred by inexplicable delays, losses in communication, and very odd movements by the helicopter.
    At one point, a near panic set in at flight control, as controllers, planners, and officers fretted over why Extortion 17 appeared to be stalled in the air, seemingly hanging there as a sitting duck, as if making itself a target.
    At one point, back at flight control, there was self-­assured speculation that perhaps the chopper was hovering in the air, and some controllers speculated that perhaps the SEAL team was rappelling down to the ground.
    But the SEALs were not rappelling to the ground. Instead, per reports coming out of flight control, the chopper was stalled in the air. What was going on inside that helicopter?
    Yes, it was being piloted by a relatively inexperienced young National Guard pilot, CW2 Bryan Nichols. But his co-­pilot, CW4 David Carter, was far more experienced.
    Still, in this day of GPS navigation, there was no logical reason for Extortion 17’s seeming difficulty finding the landing zone. Nor was there any reason for it to be stalled in the air.
    All parties involved seem to agree that Extortion 17 was only 100 to 150 feet above the ground when it was shot down.
    The Colt Report: August 7, 2011–September 13, 2011
    The thirty-­eight days or so immediately following the shoot-­down, from August 7, 2011 to September 13, 2011, were crucial because of what the Army did and did not do and said and did not say during this period.
    As soon as Extortion 17 was shot down, the commander of US Central Command, Marine general James Mattis, ordered Army brigadiergeneral Jeffrey Colt to conduct an investigation of the shoot-­down. That investigation, which involved twenty-­three military investigators as part of the Air-­Crash investigating team, analyzing evidence collected from the site, interviewing witnesses, and reviewing photographs, resulted in a 1,250-page report, originally classified as Top Secret. For reasons that are still unclear, it was largely declassified and later turned over to certain surviving family members of the SEAL team.
    For ease of reference, the investigative report will be referred to herein simply as the “Colt Report.”
    The timing of the Colt Report’s release in September 2011 was critical. That’s because the initial report, which came in the form of an “Executive Summary” from Brigadier General Colt back to General Mattis, with numerous exhibits and recommendations, left out crucial information.
    For starters, here are three relevant dates to keep in mind concerning the report itself, which raised grave suspicion of a cover-­up.
    The first date is August 7, 2011, the day after the crash. On this date, four-­star US Marine general James Mattis, Commander of United States Central Command, sent a written directive to Brigadier General Jeffrey Colt to conduct a sweeping investigation as to the cause of the shoot-­down of Extortion 17. Mattis gave Colt thirty days to complete his investigation.
    The second date is September 9, 2011. By this time, Brigadier General Colt had completed the investigation ordered by General Mattis. Colt had some twenty-­two military officers, mostly from the US Army, but a few from the Navy and Air Force, all subject-­matter experts in various relevant fields, assist him in his investigation.
    In addition to the twenty-­two officers working directly on Colt’s investigation team, a Joint Combat Assessment Team (JCAT) from Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, using aviation crash