Thirty Americans, including fifteen members of the famous SEAL Team 6, were killed when a helicopter transporting them was downed by a rocket propelled grenade in Afghanistan in August 2011.
The story resurfaced in September 2017 and again in November 2018, and many who mistakenly believed that it had just taken place issued prayer requests for the fallen troops’ family members on Facebook:
While there is no expiration date on prayer requests or calls to honor fallen troops, many were given the false impression that the attack on the helicopter had just occurred.
In reality, the helicopter was shot down by a rocket propelled grenade over the Tangi Valley of Afghanistan’s Wardak province in the early morning hours of August 6, 2011. In all, 38 people were killed in the crash. Fifteen of them were commandos from the Gold Squadron of the elite Naval Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU), better known as Seal Team Six, History.com reports:
Under cover of darkness on the night of August 6, 2011, a special ops team that included a group of U.S. Army Rangers began an assault on a Taliban compound in the village of Jaw-e-Mekh Zareen in the Tangi Valley. The firefight at the house went on for at least two hours, and the ground team called in reinforcements. As the Chinook CH-47 transport helicopter (call sign: Extortion 17) carrying 30 U.S. troops, seven Afghan commandos, an Afghan civilian interpreter and a U.S. military dog approached, the insurgents fired on the helicopter and it crashed to the ground, killing all aboard.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. Within days, U.S. F-16 fighter jets struck a compound in the same region, killing a group of insurgents who were believed to be responsible for downing the helicopter.