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Service & Sacrifice: Questions linger for father who lost son in deadliest moment in War on Terror

"We think about and talk about Pat daily...he's always on our mind," said Doug Hamburger more than seven years after his son was killed in the deadliest moment for US troops in the War on Terror.

In the middle of a hosting a dinner party at their home, Doug and Shaune Hamburger received the heartbreaking call that their son Patrick had been killed in action in Afghanistan.

“My wife had walked out on the front porch just to settle her nerves and that’s when the sedan pulled in with an Army chaplain and another member of the armed forces,” recalled Mr. Hamburger about that dreadful day in August of 2011.

“The 31 heroes we lost were the largest loss of life in the War on Terror,” said Mr. Hamburger. All of them including his son were aboard a Chinook helicopter that was shot from the sky during the hunt for suspected terrorists in the mountains of Afghanistan.

“The military tells us it was a lucky shot from an (rocket propelled grenade) that hit one of the rotors…(the helicopter) spun with such force that the g-forces actually killed everybody before they crashed,” said Mr. Hamburger sitting at a couch in his East Tennessee home just feet from a glass case holding tributes to his son. 30-year old Patrick Hamburger was a highly skilled marksman and flight engineer who had achieved the rank of Army Staff Sergeant. He was hand-picked by commanders to fly on missions with special operations troops to move them quickly in and out of battle.

“It’s very difficult to live with but I think the memories that Pat gave us in the 30 years he was in my life, you cherish those,” said Mr. Hamburger.

The flight, call sign Extortion 17, has remained the subject of many theories about whether it really was “lucky shot” in the dark that brought down that aircraft killing everyone on board. Mr. Hamburger shares his doubts in our on-camera conversation about the formal military explanation for the crash but was quick to add, he isn’t dwelling on that uncertainty.

“That’s how we cope is honoring (my) son and honoring these other men,” said Mr. Hamburger.

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