Ed Darack - The Final Mission of Extortion 17

Late on the moonless night of August 5, 2011, two U.S. Army CH-47D Chinook helicopters, empty of all passengers, cut through the pitch-black sky at more than 100 mph above the rolling high desert of eastern Afghanistan. The pilot on the stick of each aircraft lowered the thrust control with his left hand and rocked the cyclic back slightly with his right. The helicopters flared nose-high in unison as they slowed before landing. Using familiar terrain features projected onto his eyes from his night-vision goggles (NVGs), Chief Warrant Officer 4 (CW4) David Dave Carter, the pilot on the controls of the lead ship, Chalk 1, guided his Chinook toward the airfield of their home base, Forward Operating Base Shank. Coming over the wire, transmitted CW2 Bryan Nichols, seated next to Carter as pilot-in-command, over Chalk 1s internal communication system (ICS) to the flight crew. Specialist Spencer Duncan, the left-door gunner, and Sergeant Alexander Alex Bennett, manning the right-door gun, each flipped the fire selector of his M240B machine gun from the stamped F (fire) to S (safe) and removed the belted 7.62mm ammunition from the weapons feed tray. Sergeant Patrick Pat Hamburger, flight engineer (FE), sitting near the Chinooks loading ramp at the rear of the helicopter, safed his M4 carbine by removing the weapons magazine and clearing the 5.56mm round loaded in its chamber with a quick rearward slide and release of its charging handle, making a ker-chunk sound.

Left gun, safe and clear.

Right gun, safe and clear.

Ramp, safe and clear.

An Extortion

Each crew member transmitted in quick succession as Bryan deactivated the helicopters automatic defensive countermeasures system. Chalk 1 screamed over the razor wiretopped earthen barrier encircling the outpost, followed seconds later by Chalk 2. Both touched down at the bases forward arming and refueling point, or FARP.

Knighthawk X-ray, were Zulu, Chalk 2s pilot-in-command transmitted, Zulu indicating to the bases air traffic controllers that the flight of two, known as a two-ship, had safely returned. Their journey, requiring the utmost skill, confidence, and teamwork, had ended successfully and without incident after their flight into the den of a hardened and determined enemy that sought to destroy American helicopters at every opportunity.