Please help me honor Chief Special Warfare Operator Kevin Houston, DEVGRU (SEAL Team 6) Gold Squadron. Killed in action August 6, 2011, Tangi Valley, Wardak Province, Afghanistan. Aboard Extortion 17.
The mission was a QRF push for 75th Ranger Regiment troops in contact. Rangers were on the ground chasing a Taliban target named Qari Tahir, taking fire, and pulling more insurgents in by the minute.
A CH-47D Chinook, call sign Extortion 17, lifted with the QRF consisting of Kevin and his teammates. On final approach to the LZ, two RPGs were fired from a nearby structure. One hit the rear rotor. The aircraft went in hard.
All 38 personnel aboard were killed. 23 Navy SEALs. Two Air Force PJs. One AFSOC combat controller. Army Reserve and Army National Guard aircrew. Seven members of the Afghan National Security Forces. One interpreter. One Military Working Dog. 15 of the SEALs were from DEVGRU.
Greatest single loss of life in the entire Afghanistan campaign. Surpassed the 16 lost on Turbine 33 in Operation Red Wings six years earlier.
Kevin was 35. Barnstable, Massachusetts. Star athlete, football captain, the only athlete in school history to have his jersey retired. The kind of operator who walked into a room and made every man in it feel like his closest friend.
Not forgotten 🔱