Beloved fathers, husbands, brothers and sons

A couple of days ago I wrote of some group markers clustered in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery. Men who had been killed in a single action were memorialized together, whether or not they were actually buried there.

As I was walking along one row of graves in that section, I found something a little different: an individual headstone that did not show anyone’s name:

I paused not only because it was a group commemoration, but an individual stone, but also because of the wreath beside it, and the extra flowers and flag in front of it. And the plastic cup that held the contents of the empty mini of Black Jack.

As I was maneuvering to get the close-up, a woman came by, dropping flowers at the graves alongside, as well as this one. She told me that the incident on 6 August 2011 was the shooting down of a helicopter carrying Navy SEALs, flown by members of the Colorado Army National Guard. She herself is from Colorado, so she was making a point of leaving flowers for them all. It was a bad crash, she said; I could look it up.

I glanced up and down the row. “Survivors, none?” I asked. She shook her head and moved down the line.

So I did indeed look it up. Extortion 17 (one-seven) was one of two Chinooks (accompanied by a couple of Apache attack helicopters) engaged in a night operation in Wardak Province, Afghanistan. They were supporting Army Rangers who were in pursuit of a senior regional Taliban leader. The craft was carrying 15 members of SEAL Team 6, two SEALs from another unit, seven Afghan National Army Commandos, five Naval Special Warfare support personnel, three US Army Reserve members, two pilots from the Colorado Army National Guard, two USAF pararescuemen, one USAF combat controller, an Afghan civilian interpreter and a military dog.

As the helicopter flew low and slow to the landing zone, it was struck by an RPG and crashed. “Angel down,” radioed one of the Apaches.

Survivors, none.

Extortion 17 was the deadliest helicopter crash in the history of US special operations, and the single greatest loss of American life in the Afghan war. Thirty-eight men, 30 of them Americans from three service branches, and the dog.

There have been conspiracy theories floated about how such a disaster could happen to such elite forces. There had to be some kind of chicanery involved in the downing. But in a story last year in Air & Space Magazine, a man who could be considered an expert in such matters (senior watch officer for USMC air ops in southern Afghanistan) said, “There are a lot of bullets out there that say ‘To whom it may concern’…As we’ve seen a number of times, there’s a point that a lucky shot is going to get you.”

The Colorado woman told me that the pilot is buried out there, and others are elsewhere. But after she left, I walked up and down the row, taking photos of all Extortion 17 graves there, 16 of them.

I wanted to be sure to remember their names.