UNDISCLOSED LOCATION -- UNDISCLOSED LOCATION -- “On 6 August 2011, a U.S. CH-47D Chinook military helicopter operating with the call sign Extortion 17 (pronounced "one-seven") was shot down while transporting a Quick Reaction Force attempting to reinforce a Joint Special Operations Command unit of the 75th Ranger Regiment in the Tangi Valley in Maidan Wardak province, southwest of Kabul, Afghanistan. The resulting crash killed all 38 people on board including 17 US Navy SEALs, two United States Air Force Pararescue, one United States Air Force Combat Control Team member, one pilot and two crewmen of the United States Army Reserve, one pilot and one crewman of the United States Army National Guard, seven members of the Afghan National Security Forces, and one Afghan interpreter, as well as a U.S. military working dog. At 30 American military personnel killed, the shootdown of Extortion 17 represents the greatest single-incident loss of American lives in Operation Enduring Freedom – Afghanistan, surpassing the 16 lost in the downing of Turbine 33, a 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) MH-47 helicopter, during Operation Red Wings on 28 June 2005.”
"The Red Tail Defenders launched a 31 mile ruck to commemorate the fallen warriors from that mission" says Staff Sergeant Beatriz Munoz, 332d Security Forces Squadron, Combined Defense Operation Center Controller, who participated in the ruck. The ruck started Sunday, August 7th, 2022 at 0630 at the passenger terminal. The intention was to ruck 6.2 miles Sunday through the following Thursday. Participants were highly encouraged to wear additional weight on their bodies as those that were lost were in combat battle gear. Every morning, before each ruck, volunteers started by reading the backstory of six individuals killed during the mission and proceeded to ruck.